IcA      HISTORY 

^ — -*  AND 

GOVERNMENT 

OF  THE 

UNITED  STATES 

*>  FOR  EVENING  SCHOOLS 
'»  I 

U^^^"^""**?*!., ,.,,,  mi  null  mil  mil  iiii  mi 


WILLIAM  i  E  -CHANCELLOR 


COMMISSION  OF  IMMIGRATION 
AND  HOUSING  OF  CALIFORNIA 


HISTORY  AND  GOVERNMENT 


ov  THE 


UNITED  STATES 


FOR    EVENING    SCHOOLS 


BY 


WILLIAM    ESTA BROOK    CHANCELLOR 

I  ( 
SUPERINTENDENT    OF    SCHOOLS,    NORWALK,    CONN. 


NEW  YORK  •:•  CINCINNATI  •:•  CHICAGO 

AMERICAN    BOOK    COMPANY 


C3 


COPYRIGHT,  1905,  1912,  BY 
WILLIAM  E.   CHANCELLOR. 


ENTERED  AT  STATIONERS'  HALL,  LONDON. 


HISTORY   AND   GOVERNMENT   FOR   EVENING   SCHOOLS. 

EDUCATION  PEPT4 

w.  P.   5 


PREFACE 

THE  purpose  of  this  text-book  is  not  only  to  present  inter 
esting  and  instructive  accounts  of  our  American  history  and 
of  our  political  institutions,  but  also  to  introduce  the  stu 
dents  of  evening  schools  to  some  of  the  fundamental  prin 
ciples  of  our  social  and  business  conditions.  The  maturity 
of  such  students  in  years  and  in  experience  necessitates  a 
presentation  of  American  affairs  decidedly  different  from  that 
in  ordinary  day-school  text-books.  An  experience  of  many 
years  in  several  cities  in  teaching  this  important  subject  in 
evening  classes  has  led  me  to  prepare  a  text  that  is  somewhat 
unlike  any  other  both  in  its  nature  and  in  the  range  of  its 
topics.  I  have  intended  to  deal  with  matters  that  the  evening- 
school  student  desires  and  needs  to  know. 

The  especial  value  of  American  history  and  civil  govern 
ment  in  evening  schools  is  due  to  two  facts :  that  many  of  the 
students  are  foreign-born  or  children  of  the  foreign-born,  anx 
ious  to  know  the  story  of  our  country ;  and  that  some  of  them 
are  already  voters,  while  all  of  the  boys  will  soon  be  voters, 
who  ought  to  know  at  least  as  much  as  these  pages  contain. 
Of  these  students,  very  few  have  attended  day  school  long 
enough  to  reach  courses  in  American  history.  I  have  known 
many  cases  where  foreigners  entered  city  evening  schools 
within  a  day  or  two  of  their  arrival. 

The  manuscript  has  been  read  critically  by  several  friends 
who  by  experience  and  education  were  peculiarly  fitted  to 
judge  it  in  both  plan  and  details. 

W.  E.  C. 

541422 


CONTENTS 

PAGES 

IMPORTANT  DATES      .         .         .         .         .         ...  .    5,  6 

PART      I.     GEOGRAPHY  OF  OUR  COUNTRY        .....  7-17 

PART     II.     HISTORY  OF  OUR  COUNTRY 18-60 

PART  III.     CIVIL  GOVERNMENT  OF  OUR  COUNTRY.  .          61-82 

PART  IV.     OUR  BUSINESS  AFFAIRS  ......          83-92 

SUMMARY 93,  94 

APPENDIX  ...........        95-112 

List  of  the  Presidents 95 

Dates  of  Settlement  and  Admission  of  States  .  .  .  .96 
City  Departments  and  Expenditures  .....  96-98 
Suggestions  for  Further  Study  of  United  States  History  and 

Government 98-99 

Additional  Readings 100 

Declaration  of  Independence       ......      101-104 

"The  Declaration" — Abraham  Lincoln 104 

Epitome  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States        .         .      105-108 
INDEX  .         •        -      109-112 


THE  GEOGRAPHY,  HISTORY,  AND  GOVERN 
MENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


PART  I 
OUR  COUNTRY  AND  OUR  PEOPLE 

1.  The  Land.  — The  main  body  of  the  United  States  is  a  con 
tinuous  region  that  stretches  across  the  continent  of  North 
America  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  on  the  east  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean  on  ttie  west,  and  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  on  the  south 


NEW  YORK  CITY  HARBOR 

to  the  Great  Lakes  on  the  north.  This  region  is  twenty-five 
hundred  miles  from  east  to  west  and  thirteen  hundred  miles 
from  north  to  south,  and  includes  two  great  mountain  systems 

7 


8  •  aEOGKlAPHY    Of    OUR    COUNTRY 


with  aii'  immense  jriver  vcllley  between  them.  The  Atlantic 
Coast  has  many  large  and  safe  harbors  for  our  coasting  trade  as 
well  as  for  that  with  foreign  countries.  There  are  also  several 
fine  harbors  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 
The  fresh-water  lakes  to  the  north  are  great  inland  seas  upon 
which  sail  many  fleets  of  merchant  ships. 

2.  The  Resources.  —  The  resources  of  the  United  States  are 
of  vast  extent  and  wide  distribution.  The  chief  coal  mines  are 
in  the  Appalachian  region  ;  iron  is  extensively  mined  near  the 
shores  of  Lake  Superior  ;  but  both  these  minerals  are  found  in 


abundance  in  various  other  parts  of  the  country.  The  Rocky 
Mountain  Highland  is.  noted  for  rich  mines  of  gold,  silver, 
lead,  and  copper.  The  latter  is  mined  extensively  also  in  the 
Lake  Superior  region.  The  greatest  wealth  of  the  United 
States  is  in  the  millions  of  acres  of  fertile  land  upon  the 
Atlantic  Coast,  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  upon  the  Pacific 
Coast.  Both  in  resources  and  in  climate,  nearly  the  whole 
of  our  country  is  suitable  for  the  habitation  of  man. 

3.  The  Climate.  —  The  variations  in  climate  are  great. 
Florida  is  tropical,  with  moist  heat,  while  Texas  and  South 
Carolina  are  almost  tropical,  with  dry  heat ;  most  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  Valley  has  hot  summers  and  cold  winters  j  the  climate 


GEOGRAPHY    OF    OUR    COUNTRY  9 

of  northern  California,  Oregon,  and  Washington  is  compara 
tively  mild  throughout  the  year ;  and  New  England  has  short, 
warm  summers  and  long,  severe  winters. 

4.  The  Agricultural  Products.  —  The  fruits,  vegetables,  and 
cereals  raised  in  the  United  States  vary  from  the  tropical 
fruits  of  the  South  to  the  hardy  grains  of  the  North.  All 
kinds  of  timber  are  found  here,  including  pine,  cedar,  spruce, 
hickory,  oak,  walnut,  and  cypress.  We  are  rich  in  forest  lands, 
despite  the  often  wasteful  depredations  of  the  lumbermen. 
On  the  farms,  plantations,  and  ranches,  there  are  all  kinds  of 
domestic  animals,  such  as  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  pigs,  and  poul 
try.  The  vast  industrial  and  commercial  development  of  the 
factories  and  shops  of  our  country  is  dependent  in  large  measure 


HARVESTING  WHKAT 

upon  the  fertility  and  extent  of  its  farm,  mineral,  and  timber 
lands. 

5.  The  Various  Parts  of  the  United  States.  —  Besides  the  con 
tinental  region  of  the  United  States  that  stretches  from  Boston 
to  San  Francisco,  with  its  forty-eight  States,  our  nation  pos 
sesses  lands  not  within  that  region.  These  separated  lands 
include  Alaska,  the  Philippine  Islands,  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
Porto  Rico,  and  several  small  islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The 
District  of  Columbia  is  a  small  region  between  Maryland  and 
Virginia,  governed  directly  by  Congress ;  in  it  is  our  capital 
city,  Washington.  All  together  there  are  some  fifty-five  dif 
ferent  governments  subordinate  to  the  general  government  of 
the  United  States.  These  subordinate  sections  include  States, 
Territories,  and  Dependencies.  Besides  these,  we  have  influ- 


10  GEOGRAPHY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 

ence  over  the  island  of  Cuba,  which  lies  south  of  Florida,  and 
over  the  republic  of  Panama,  where  our  nation  controls  a  ten- 
mile  strip  of  land  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  is  now 
building  a  great  canal  to  connect  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific 
oceans.  (See  maps,  pp.  11  and  19.) 

6.  The  States.  —  The  forty-eight  states  vary  largely  in  size, 
from  Rhode  Island  and  Delaware,  which  are  very  small,  to  the 
immense  States  of  Texas  and  California.     Many  of  our  States 
are   larger   than   England,  and   the   greatest,  Texas,  exceeds 
Austria-Hungary  in  size. 

The  Thirteen  "Original  States."  —  Thirteen  of  these  States 
are  known  as  the  "  Original  States  "  because  by  their  union 
they  constituted  the  United  States  at  its  beginning.  These 
thirteen  States  were  colonies  from  the  Old  World,  and  secured 
their  independence  from  Great  Britain  by  the  Revolutionary 
war.  (See  pp.  28  to  35.)  They  are  New  Hampshire,  Massa 
chusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  and  Georgia.  The  other  States  have  been 
admitted  from  time  to  time  into  the  Union  in  accordance  with 
the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which 
was  framed  in  1787  and  was  formally  ratified  soon  thereafter 
by  the  different  States. 

7.  The  Various  Group-'t  of  States.  —  For  the  sake  of  conven 
ience,  the  States  are  commonly  divided  into  certain   groups. 
This  enables  us  to  refer  conveniently  to  a  region  including  a 
number  of  States. 

New  England  States.  —  The  New  England  States  are  Maine, 
New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and 
Connecticut.  Taken  all  together,  they  are  not  quite  equal  in 
size  to  the  State  of  Washington. 

Middle  Atlantic  States.  —  Another  group  is  often  called  the 
Middle  Atlantic  States,  and  consists  of  New  York,  Pennsyl 
vania,  New  Jersey,  Maryland,  Delaware,  Virginia,  and  West 
Virginia.  This  division  includes  also  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia, 


12  GEOGRAPHY  OF  OUR    COUNTRY 

Southern  States.  —  The  next  group  is  generally  known  as 
the  Southern  States;  and  includes  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana, 
Tennessee,  Arkansas,  Texas,  and  Oklahoma. 

North  Central  States.  —  The  North  Central  States  are  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Kentucky,  Minnesota, 
North  Dakota,  South  Dakota,  Iowa,  Missouri,  Kansas,  and 
Nebraska. 

Plateau  States.  —  The  Plateau  States,  occupying  most  of 
the  great  Rocky  Mountain  Highland,  consist  of  Montana, 
Wyoming,  Idaho,  Colorado,  Utah,  Nevada,  New  Mexico,  and 
Arizona. 

Pacific  States.  —  The  Pacific  States  are  Washington,  Oregon, 
and  California. 

8.  The  Territories.  —  The  thirteen  "  Original  States  "  (which 
included  the  regions  now  known  as  the  States  of  Maine,  Ver 
mont,  Kentucky,  and  West  Virginia)  and  California  and  Texas 
were  never  Territories ;  but  all  the  other  States  were  Terri 
tories  before  their  admission  into  the  Union.     Outside  of  the 
United  States,  there  is  one  Territory  upon  the  Continent  of 
North  America,  —  Alaska,1  an  immense  region  partly  within 
the  Arctic  Circle,  whose  natural  resources  are  gold,  fish,  timber, 
and  fur-bearing  animals;  and  another  in  the  Pacific  Ocean, — 
the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  which  produces  much  sugar.     (See 
map,  p.  19.) 

9.  The  Colonies.  —  We  own  also  the  Philippine  Islands,  off 
the  coast  of  Asia,  and  rule  them  as  a  colony.     These  are  trop 
ical  islands  containing  a  total  area  of  land  about  equal  to  that 
of  Nevada.     They  are  extremely  fertile,  producing  hemp,  sugar, 
copra,  and  tobacco,  and  possess  some  mineral  resources.     Porto 
Rico,  one  of  the  important  islands  of  the  West  Indies,  is  gov 
erned  as  a  colony  of  this  country.     The  United  States  possesses 
also  a  number  of  small  islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  chief  of 

1  The  Territory  of  Alaska  includes  a  small  strip  of  land  upon  the 
Pacific  coast,  which  reaches  almost  to  the  northwest  corner  of  the  United 
States. 


GEOGRAPHY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 


13 


which  are  Tutuila  and  smaller  islands  of  the  Samoan  group, 
and  Guam,  the  largest  of  the  Ladrones.  (See  map,  p.  19.) 

10.  Population.  —  Of  the  present  population  of  the  United 
States,  which   numbers   nearly   a  hundred    millions,  ten   mil 
lions  within  the  continuous  continental  region  are  Negroes  and 
thirty  millions  are  foreign  born,  or  the  children  of  foreign- 
born  people.     Nearly 

all  of  the  foreigners 
have  come  to  us  in 
great  ships  across  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  from 
Europe,  but  some  have 
come  from  Canada, 
Mexico,  South  Amer 
ica,  Asia,  and  Africa. 
There  are  also  among 
us  a  quarter  of  a  mil 
lion  aboriginal  In- 
-,.  ,1  c  ,-,  OCEAN  GREYHOUND 

dians;  the  rest  of  the 

people  in  the  United  States  are  children  of  native-born  whites. 
Nearly  all  of  the  people  speak  the  English  language,  which  is 
the  official  language  of  the  government. 

11.  Immigration.  —  All  the  white  people  in  the  United  States 
who  were  not  themselves  immigrants  are  the  offspring  of  immi 
grants  from  Europe.     Most  of  the  earliest  settlers  came  from 
England.     More  recently  many  thousands  have  come  from  Ire 
land,  Germany,  and  Sweden.     Most  of  those  who  are  coming 
now  were  born  in  Italy,  Austria-Hungary,  and  Russia.     The 
greatest  numbers  of  immigrants  have  come  here  annually  dur 
ing  the  past  twenty  years.     In  1903  over  850,000  immigrants 
came  to  us  from  the  Old  World. 

12.  Causes   of   Emigration   from    Europe.  —  Europeans   have 
come  to  the  United  States  for  many  different  reasons,  but  chiefly 
because  of  the  troubles  in  the  Old  World  and  of  the  hope  of 
freedom  here.     Recently  some  have  come  because  of  the  wealth- 
making  attractions  of  the  New  World. 


14  GEOGRAPHY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 

Early  Immigrants.  —  The  early  immigrants  who  established 
their,  first  settlements  here  had  to  endure  terrible  hardships. 
Many  of  them  died  of  starvation  and  of  the  severity  of  the 
climate.  In  these  days  it  is  hard  to  realize  what  it  meant  for 
a  man  to  come  with  a  family  from  the  settled  conditions  of  the 
Old  World  to  the  loneliness  and  struggles  of  the  New  World. 
All  the  Negroes  are  descended  from  slaves  stolen  in  Africa. 
They  were  brought  here  to  do  menial  work,  or  work  that  the 
whites  were  unable  to  do  because  of  the  climate. 

13.  Effect  of  Emigration  upon  Europe.  —  The  discovery  of  the 
New  World  not  only  made  a  great  nation  here  in  the  United 
States  and  led  to  the  establishment  of  other  nations  in  Central 
and  South  America,  but  it  also  greatly  benefited  the  Old  World. 
Emigration  has  been  the  means  of  relieving  European  nations 
of  their  discontented  people ;  and  the  Old  World  itself  is  more 
prosperous  now  than  it  was  four  hundred  years  ago,  when 
Columbus  discovered  the  New  World.     The  increased  supply 
of  materials  for  manufacture  taken  from  the  natural  resources 
of  America  is  one  of  the  causes  that  have  made  food,  cotton, 
timber,  and   metals   much   cheaper   than   they  ever  were   in 
Europe  before  the  settlement  of  this  land.     Such  are  the  bene 
fits  of  international  trade. 

14.  The  Indian  Tribes.  —  At  the  time  when  Columbus  dis 
covered  the  New  World,  it  was  inhabited  by  a  race  of  men  who 
have  always  been  called  Indians  because  the  great  discoverer 
thought  that  in  finding  this  land  he  had  found  India.     The  In 
dians  who  were  then  within  the  present  territory  of  the  United 
States  formed  many  small  bands  and  wandered  about  through 
large  regions  of  territory,  constantly  fighting  with  one  another. 
The  coming  of  the  whites  compelled  the  various  Indian  tribes 
to  be  much  more  friendly  because  of  the  alliances  among  them 
that  were  necessary  to  enable  them  to  fight  the  whites.     Some 
of  the  colonies  were  always  friendly  with  the  Indians.     Of 
these,  Pennsylvania  was  especially  peaceful  until  the  time  of 
the  French  and  Indian  War.     There  were  a  few  Indian  tribes 
with  settled  habitations,  the  most  famous  being  the  Iroquois. 


GEOGRAPHY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 


15 


Resemblances  and  Differences.  —  These  native  Indian  tribes 
differed  very  greatly  from  one  another.  They  spoke  many 
different  languages  or  different  dialects.  Some  of  their  gov 
ernments  had  a  general  resemblance,  and  their  customs  and 
religions  were  somewhat  alike,  but  they  lived  in  those  violent 
conditions  of  personal  feuds  and  tribal  warfare  which  are  the 
outcome  of  intelligent  savagery. 


WHITE  SETTLERS  TRADING  WITH  INDIANS 

15.  Origin  of  the  Indians.  —  Although  the  origin  of  the  In 
dians  is  uncertain,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  Indian 
race  has  been  in  the  world  for  thirty  thousand  years  and  more, 
a  period  ten  times  as  long  as  that  of  civilized  history  in  Europe. 
The  geographical  origin1  of  the  Indians  is  probably  the  same  as 
that  of  the  races  from  which  the  white  men  have  sprung  in 
Asia  and  Europe ;  that  is,  they  are  probably  descended  from 

1  This  interesting  question  is  discussed  by  Professor  W.  Z.  Ripley  in  his 
Races  of  Europe,  and  by  Professor  F.  S.  Dellenbaugh  in  his  North  Americans 
of  Yesterday. 


16  GEOGRAPHY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 

the  people  who  many  thousand  years  ago  lived  along  the  mar 
gins  of  the  lands  stretching  northwest  and  southeast  from  the 
Malay  Peninsula  to  the  British  Isles,  Iceland,  and  Greenland. 
16.  Present  Condition  of  the  Aborigines.  —  The  effect  of  the 
settling  of  the  New  World  by  Europeans  was  slowly  and  stead 
ily  to  crowd  the  Indians  westward.  After  the  white  men  came, 
there  was  considerably  less  fighting  than  before  among  the 
Indians  themselves,  since  the  Indians  formed  alliances  with 
one  another  to  resist  the  newcomers.  In  addition  to  the 


SPEARING  FISH 

quarter  of  a  million  Indians  who  have  retained  many  of  their 
native  characteristics,  there  are  now  many  people  in  the  United 
States  who  are  partly  of  Indian  blood.  In  the  course  of  the 
centuries,  many  Indians  have  become  civilized  and  have 
learned  to  live  as  the  white  people  live.  There  are  now  five 
thousand  Indian  farmers  in  New  York  State,  American  citi 
zens  as  truly  as  are  the  descendants  of  the  English  and  of  the 
Germans  who  have  come  hither  three  thousand  miles  across 
the  sea. 

Indians  on  Reservations.  —  Separated  by  themselves  in  the 


GEOGRAPHY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY  17 

Indian  communities,  there  are  now  about  one  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  Indians  on  reservations  or  other  lands  set 
apart  for  them  by  the  American  government.  The  white  men 
have  made  our  country  a  land  of  peace  for  the  Indians.  This 
was  the  first  essential  in  making  progress  in  culture  and  civili 
zation  possible  for  them. 

MAP  STUDY 

1.  Turn  to  the  map,  p.  19,  and  note  the  location  of  the  North 
American  continent. 

2.  Tell  in  what  direction  from  North  America  is  each  of  the  other 
great  continents. 

3.  Compare  the  area  of  the  United  States  with  that  of  other  great 
nations. 

4.  Upon  the  map  of  the  United  States,  p.  11,  locate  the  various 
States. 

5.  Compare  their  relative  areas. 

6.  Discuss  their  locations  with  respect  to  — 

(a)  Climate.  (c)  Waterways. 

(6)   Oceans.  (d)  Mountains. 

7.  Study  the  map  with  reference  to  other  facts  mentioned  in  the 
text. 


PART   II 


OUR  HISTORY 

17.  Christopher  Columbus.  —  Until  about  four  hundred  years 
ago,  all  civilized  people  lived  in  that  part  of  the  earth  which 
we  now  call  the  "  Old  World." 

In  1492  Christopher  Columbus,  an  Italian  sailor  whose  name 
means  "  the  Christ-bearing  dove,"  secured  permission  from  the 
Spanish  king  and  queen,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  to  try  to 
reach  India  by  sailing  westward.  With  their  royal  protection 
and  financial  assistance,  he  sailed  westward  across  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  until  he  reached  an  island  off  the 
coast  of  this  "New  World." 1 

18.  Discovery  of  the  New  World.  —  This 
discovery  of  America  was  the  result  of 
many  years  of  persistent  endeavor  on  the 
part  of  Columbus  to  organize  an  expedi 
tion,  for  he  believed  the  stories  of  the 
existence  of  strange  lands  far  to  the 
Vest  of  Spain  and  east  of  India,  and 
dreamed  that  he  might  find  those  lands, 
bring  their  inhabitants  to  a  knowledge 
of  the  Christian  religion,  and  secure  vast 
wealth  for  himself  as  their  ruler. 

The  Start.  —  Columbus  believed  the 
earth  to  be  round,  —  not  flat,  as  most  people  then  thought  it  to 
be,  —  and  he  hoped  that  those  far-away  lands,  of  which  tradi 
tion  had  told  him,  might  prove  to  be  the  borders  of  Cathay, 
then  the  region  of  romance  and  wealth  in  the  imaginations 
of  all  men.  He  hoped  to  set  forth  on  his  great  voyage  of 

1  This  was  probably  that  island  in  the  Bahamas  which  is  now  called 
Watling  Island.  (See  Bahamas,  on  map,  p.  19.) 

18 


COLUMBUS'i)   .SHIP 


(19) 


20  HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 

discovery  with  a  magnificent  expedition;  but  the  ships  in 
which  he  actually  sailed  were  three  small  vessels,  carrying  all 
together  only  ninety  men. 

Other  Voyages  of  Columbus.  —  In  the  ten  years  that  followed 
the  discovery,  Columbus  made  three  other  voyages  to  America. 
Many  other  adventurous  sailors  followed  in  his  path,  so  that 
all  Europe  knew  before  long  that  a  vast  New  World  had  been 
found. 

19.  Discovery  of  the  Mississippi  River  by  De  Soto.  —  After  the 
discovery  of  America,  in  1492,  expedition  after  expedition  was 


DE  SOTO'S  MARCH 

sent  out  by  Spain,  France,  and  Great  Britain  to  seize  territory 
for  their  sovereigns.  One  of  these  expeditions  was  that  of 
De  Soto,  who  came  with  six  hundred  warriors  in  brilliant  array 
to  take  possession  of  the  southern  part  of  what  is  now  the  United 
States.  Nearly  every  man  in  that  expedition  perished  from 
hunger,  hardships,  and  fights  with  the  Indians.  l)e  Soto  him- 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY  21 

self  died  of  a  fever,  and  was  buried  in  the  waters  of  the  Missis 
sippi  River,  which  he  had  discovered  in  1541. 

20.  The  Colony  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  —  A  century  after  the 
time  of  Columbus,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  a  statesman  of  the  great 
Queen  Elizabeth  of  England,  formed  a  desire  to  establish  an 
English  colony  on  the  shores  of  North  America,  and  spent 
vast  sums  of  money  in  sending  out  ships  with  settlers.     His 
most  important  effort  was  to  establish,  in  1584,  a  colony  upon 
the  island  of  Roanoke,  on  the  coast  of  the  Carolinas.     This 
seemed  likely  to  succeed,  until  two  years  had  intervened,  when 
additional  settlers  were  sent  out,  who  found  that  the  original 
settlement  had  been  entirely  deserted.     Whether  the  colonists 
were  killed  by  the  Indians  or  were  carried  away  captive  by 
them,  no  one  knows  to  this  day. 

21.  A  Century  of  Adventure.  — From  1492  to  1607  many  dar 
ing  men  endeavored  to  take  possession  of  that  part  of  North 
America  which  is  now  the  United  States.     These  adventurers 
came  mainly  from  England,  Spain,  and  France.     The  result  of 
all  their  activity  was  that,  in  1607,  the  Spanish  held  not  only 
nearly  all  of  South  America,  but  Central  America,  Mexico,  the 
West  Indies,  and  the  southern  and  western  parts  of  what  is 
now  our  territory,  while  France  claimed  Canada  and  the  Mis 
sissippi  Valley,  and  England  controlled  most  of  the  seacoast 
upon  the  Atlantic.     This  period  of  heroic  adventures  upon  sea 
and  land  prepared  the  European  nations  for  the  more  serious 
but  less  attractive  enterprises  of  permanent  settlement  and 
systematic  pursuit  of  agriculture  and  the  fisheries. 

22.  Jamestown,  the  First  Successful  English  Settlement.  —  With 
the  year  1607  began  the  period  of  successful  settlement  by  the 
English.     From  that  year  to  this,  the  immigration  of  Europeans 
has  never  ceased.     The  little  band  that  came  to  Jamestown 
from  England  numbered  only  a  hundred   and   five.1    Their 
leader,  Captain  John  Smith,  by  his  courage,  firmness,  and  in 
dustry,  enabled  the  colony  to  succeed  where  all  earlier  colonies 

*  Some  authorities  say  one  hundred  and  forty.    See  Doyle,  English  Colo 
nies,  Virginia. 

HIST.    EV.    SCII.  — 2 


22  HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 

had  failed.  He  compelled  the  colonists  to  work,  made  treaties 
with  the  Indians,  explored  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  secured 
more  colonists  and  additional  supplies  from  England. 

23.  The  Founding  of  New  Amsterdam  (New  York).  —  In  1609 
Henry  Hudson,  an  Englishman  in  the  employ  of  the  Dutch,  dis 
covered  the  Hudson  River.  The  Dutch  began  to  make  a  settle 
ment  at  New  Amsterdam,  soon  afterwards.  In  1664,  when  Peter 
Stuyvesant  was  governor  of  New  Amsterdam,  the  English  took 


EARLY  VIEW  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM 

possession  of  it,  greatly  to  the  regret  of  the  governor,  who  was, 
nevertheless,  unable  to  offer  any  resistance,  since  the  Dutch 
seemed  pleased  with  the  idea  of  English  rule.  The  name  was 
then  changed  to  New  York.  Even  at  this  time  New  York  was 
a  cosmopolitan  city,  in  which  no  less  than  twenty-five  different 
languages  were  spoken.  People  from  all  the  different  countries 
of  the  world  were  already  coming  to  the  beautiful  trading  city. 
24.  The  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth.  —  The  little  group  of  settlers 
who,  in  1620,  landed  from  the  Mayflower  at  Plymouth,  Massa 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 


23 


chusetts,  numbered  but  one  hundred  and  two.  These  first  New 
England  people  were  known  as  "  Pilgrims  "  because,  in  1608, 
they  had  fled  from  England  to  Holland  to  avoid  religious  per 
secution.  In  Holland  they  learned 
from  the  Dutch  many  impor 
tant  lessons  in  matters  of  re 
ligion  and  government. 
From  Holland  they 
came  to  America. 

Ha rdsh  (ps.  —  Most  of 
the   settlers   were  very 
poor.        The    winters 
were  long  and  se 
vere,  and  such   as 
the  immigrants  had 
never    known     at  ^^A 

home.      Few  Of  the  '^HK  MAYFLOWER 

settlers  understood  how  to  farm  land.  Sometimes  the  Indians 
were  friendly  to  them,  and  sometimes  they  were  unfriendly. 
Their  variable  moods  fearfully  increased  the  difficulties  of 
the  settlers.  These  early  days  were  days  of  heroism.  At 
Plymouth,  Captain  Myles  Standish  was  the  soldier  whose 
brave  deeds  helped  to  maintain  the  small  colony. 

25.  The  Emigration  of  the  Puritans  from  England. — From  1628 
to  1640,  after  the  settlement  of  Plymouth  was  well  established, 
there  was  a  very  large  emigration  of  people  from  England. 
Twenty  thousand  came  to  Massachusetts,  founding  Salem, 
Boston,  Cambridge,  and  many  other  towns. 

Strife  betiveen  Puritans  and  Cavaliers.  —  The  cause  of  this 
emigration  from  the  home  country  was  religious  and  political 
strife  between  the  Puritans  and  the  Cavaliers.  The  Puri 
tans  believed  in  giving  the  Church  of  England,  which  was 
supported  by  the  national  government,  a  simpler  ritual  and 
in  making  it  more  useful  for  the  betterment  of  society. 
They  believed  also  in  requiring  the  king,  as  the  head  of  the 
government,  to  obey  the  will  of  the  nation  as  expressed  by 


24  HISTORY   OF  OUR   COUNTRY 

Parliament.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Cavaliers  believed  in  the 
"divine  right"  of  the  king  to  rule  as  he  pleased.  After  1640 
this  strife  took  the  form  of  actual  war.  Then  the  Puritans, 
who  hitherto  had  felt  too  much  oppressed  in  England  to  be 
willing  to  remain  there,  began  to  take  great  interest  in  home 
matters,  fighting  in  the  army  against  the  king,  and  finally 
securing  complete  control  of  the  government  in  the  period  of 
the  English  Commonwealth  (1649-1660). 

26.  The  Emigration  of  the  Cavaliers.  —  The  same  reason  that 
caused  the  Puritans  to  cease  emigrating  to  America  led  thou 
sands  of  the  Cavaliers  to  leave  England.     They  found  refuge 
in  Virginia,  especially  in  the  period  from  1650  to  1670.     Thus, 
in  the  early  days  of  our  history,  Massachusetts  and  Virginia 
developed,  decided  differences  of  opinion.     These  differences 
had  important  results  in  our  later  history.     (See  p.  48.) 

27.  William  Penn  and  Pennsylvania.  —  After  the  settlement 
of  Virginia  and  Massachusetts,  many  colonists  came  over  to 
various  parts  of  the  country.     One  of  the  most  interesting  of 
the  colonies  was  that  begun  in  Pennsylvania  by  William  Penn 
in  1682.     In  1683  he  founded   Philadelphia.     The   father  of 
William  Penn  was  a  wealthy  English  admiral,  while  his  mother 
was  a  Dutch  lady.     In  his  youth,  William  Penn   became  a 
Quaker.     In  his  travels  through  Germany,  he  saw  the  terrible 
suffering  of  the  people  as  a  result  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War 
over  religious  matters. 

Emigration  of  Quakers.  —  He  raised  money  in  England  to 
pay  the  passage  of  thousands  of  his  Quaker  brethren  across  the 
ocean.  The  Quakers,  or  "  Friends,"  as  they  style  themselves, 
were  being  persecuted  in  England  just  as  the  Puritans  had 
been  persecuted  fifty  years  before.  They  sought  peace  in  the 
New  World,  and  found  it.  This  colony  grew  in  numbers  very 
rapidly.  Before  the  War  of  Independence,  the  Quaker  city  of 
Philadelphia  was  the  largest  in  the  New  World. 

28.  Oglethorpe  and  Georgia.  —  The  last  of  the  thirteen  English 
colonies  to  be  settled  was  Georgia,  where  General  Oglethorpe 
was  the  leader.     He  was  a  wealthy  man  who  pitied  the  condi- 


1 II STORY   OF  OUR   COUNTRY 


25 


tions  of  the  poor  in  England,  whom  it  was  then  the  custom 
to  imprison  for  debt.  He  made  a  successful  settlement  at 
Savannah,  Georgia,  in  1733;  and  lived  long  enough  to  see 
Georgia,  as  one  of  the  united  colonies,  secure  independence 
from  Great  Britain. 

29.  Conditions  of  Life  in  the  Colonial  Period. — After  the  settle 
ment  of  Pennsylvania  in  1G82,  the  people  of  all  the  colonies 
were  generally  comfortable 
in  their  homes,  for  they 
were  able  to  earn  fair  liveli 
hoods  from  their  occupa 
tions.  The  descendants  of 
the  original  colonists  had 
grown  accustomed  to  the 
climate  and  to  the  condi 
tions  of  the  various  regions 
that  they  inhabited.  They 
had  learned  how  to  raise 
crops,  how  to  build  ships, 
how  to  make  cloth,  and  how 
to  secure  freedom  from  In 
dian  warfare,  by  conquering 
the  natives,  or  by  driving 
them  away,  or  by  making 
treaties  with  them.  In 
1700  there  were  nearly  three  ~ 
hundred  thousand  people  of 
European  descent  in  this 
country.  All  of  them  lived  within  a  few  miles  of  the  seacoast. 

PreparaiioRS  for  Self-government.  —  The  period  from  the 
year  1682  to  the  year  1776  is  known  as  the  "  colonial  period," 
because  during  this  time  the  settlements  were  governed  as 
separate  colonies  of  the  English  crown.  During  this  time  the 
colonists  were  learning  how  to  govern  themselves  in  local 
affairs,  and  were  preparing  for  self-government  as  an  inde 
pendent  nation. 


COLONIAL  KITCHEN 


26  HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 

30.  Wars  of  the  Colonial  Period.  — During  the  colonial  period. 
England  was  constantly  at  war  with  France,  both  in  the  Old 
World  and  in  the  New.    Because  the  Atlantic  Coast  was  subject 
to  England,  while  Canada  and  the  Great  Lakes  were  subject 
to  France,   there  were  many   wars.     The  English  and   their 
colonists  fought  against  the  French  and  against  most  of  the 
Indian  tribes,  though  in  these  wars  the  Iroquois  Indians  sup 
ported  the  English.      As  the  result  of  these  wars,  England 
drove   the   French   out   of  Canada.     The   greatest   and   final 
victory  was  won  at  Quebec  in  1759,  where  both  the  French 
General  Montcalm  and  the  English  General  Wolfe  were  killed. 

Effect  of  the  Wars.  —  The  effect  of  these  wars  on  the  Ameri 
can  colonists  was  very  important.  The  colonists  learned  how 
to  fight  well ;  the  people  of  the  different  colonies,  and  of 
many  nationalities  were  brought  together,  so  that  they  became 
friendly ;  there  was  an  extension  of  colonial  territory  both 
west  and  north ;  and  the  Indians  were  driven  farther  west  and 
were  considerably  reduced  in  numbers. 

Population.  —  Some  of  the  Indians  became  civilized  farmers 
and  traders.  At  the  close  of  the  colonial  period,  there  were 
two  and  three  quarters  millions  of  people  in  the  English  colo 
nies,  of  whom  over  half  a  million  were  Negro  slaves.  Some 
of  the  colonists  had  immigrated  to  the  New  World,  but  most 
of  them  were  the  descendants  of  earlier  immigrants.  They 
were  a  hardy  people,  active  and  ambitious,  and  had  become 
largely  self-governing.  They  were  comparatively  free  from 
England  in  matters  of  religion,  but  they  were  restless  because 
of  the  rule  of  the  home  government. 

31.  Colonial  Governments.  —  In  1775,  the  time  of  the  cut- 
break  of  the  War  of  Independence,  the  thirteen  colonies  had 
various  kinds  of  governments,  though  all  were  subordinate  to 
the  king  of  England. 

Charter  Colonies.  —  Two  of  the  colonies  had  royal  charters 
that  made  them  very  democratic  and  independent.  They  elected 
their  own  governors,  councils,  and  assemblies,  and  had  greater 
freedom  than  any  of  the  other  colonies.  These  two  colonies 


N   EASTERN  NORTH  AMERICA 

AT  THE  BEGINNING  OP 

THE  FRENCH  AND  INDIAN*  WAR 

SCALE  OF  MILES 


85          Longitude        80      West       from     75         Greenwich        70 
(27) 


28  HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 

were  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island.  One  colony,  Massachu 
setts,  had  a  charter  and  many  special  rights,  but  was  ruled  by 
a  governor  appointed  by  the  king. 

Royal  Colonies.  —  Seven  of  the  colonies  had  no  political 
charters,  but  were  under  governors  appointed  by  the  king. 
They  elected  their  own  assembly,  while  the  governor  appointed 
the  council.  These  colonies  were  New  Hampshire,  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and 
Georgia. 

Proprietary  Colonies.  —  The  remaining  colonies  were  proprie 
tary,  which  -means  that  they  were  ruled  by  proprietors  who 
originally  owned  the  land.  These  colonies,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  and  Maryland,  had  charters  which  allowed  them  to 
elect  their  own  assemblies,  but  the  proprietors  appointed  the 
governors.  The  first  two  of  these  colonies  had  the  same  gov 
ernor,  but  different  assemblies.  Of  all  the  colonists,  the  people 
of  Maryland  had  the  least  freedom. 

32.  Causes  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  —  The  great  wars  be 
tween  England  and  France  in  the  eighteenth  century,  which 
were  carried  on  both  in  Europe  and  in  America,  cost  the  Eng 
lish  government  immense  sums  of  money,  and  the  English 
merchants  wished  to  monopolize  the  most  profitable  trade  with 
the  American  colonies.  These  two  facts  led  the  British  govern 
ment  to  levy  taxes  upon  the  English  colonies,  and  finally  to 
forbid  the  colonists  to  trade  directly  with  any  country  but 
Great  Britain.  Restrictions  were  even  placed  upon  the  trade 
of  the  colonies  among  themselves. 

No  Taxation  without  Representation. — As  the  colonists  them 
selves  were  given  no  voice  in  these  measures,  they  were  much 
offended  at  these  laws  and  requirements  of  the  British  govern 
ment.  They  felt  that  they,  too,  were  Englishmen,  and  they 
believed  in  the  English  principle  that  the  citizens  should  have 
a  voice  in  the  government.  In  every  part  of  the  colonies  a  cry 
went  up,  "No  taxation  without  representation."  This  meant 
that,  because  the  colonies  were  not  represented  in  the  British 
Parliament,  they  should  not  be  taxed  at  all.  In  other  words, 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 


the  colonists  claimed  to  be  subjects  not  of  Parliament,  but  of 
the  king  as  head  of  the  British  empire  j  and.  the  king  had  no 
taxing  powers. 

33.  The  Stamp  Act  and  Other  Tax  Laws.  —  In  1760  George  III 
came  to  the  throne  of  England.1  He  meant  to  be  master  of 
England  and  of  all  her  colonies  and  dependencies.  By  bribery, 
royal  prerogative,2  and  various  other  means,  he  secured  control 
of  Parliament,  and  set  about  making  plans  to  reduce  the  colo 
nies  to  subjection. 

Resistance  to  the  Stamp  Act.  —  In  1765  the  Stamp  Act  was 
passed.  This  was  a  measure  requiring  all  kinds  of  legal  docu 
ments  (such  as  deeds,  mortgages,  promissory  notes,  ship  clear 
ance  papers,  and  bills  of  sale) 
and  newspapers  published  in 
America  to  be  stamped  by  rev 
enue  officers  at  a  cost  varying 
from  a  few  pence  to  several 
pounds.  It  was  such  a  tax  upon 
colonial  business  as  threatened 
the  prosperity  of  the  people. 
Moreover,  it  was  a  tax  neither 
provided  for  in  the  colonial 
charters  nor  fixed  by  the  custom 
of  years.  The  colonists  abso 
lutely  refused  to  use  the  stamped 
paper,  and  business,  for  want 
of  legality,  was  almost  at  an  end.  Moreover,  the  people  ceased 
to  import  goods  from  England,  and  the  wares  sent  to  America 

1  The  rulers  of  England  during  the  colonial  days  from  the  time  of  Raleigh 
were  Elizabeth,  James  I,  Charles  I  (who  was  beheaded),  Oliver  Cromwell  (who 
was  Lord  Protector  during  the  time  of  the  Comm wealth),  Charles  II,  James  II, 
William  III  and  Mary  (who  were  placed  on  the  throne  by  the  English  Revolu 
tion  of  1688),  Anne,  George  I,  George  II,  and  George  III.    Elizabeth  and 
Cromwell  were  perhaps  the  greatest  rulers  England  ever  had. 

2  This  means  that  the  English  crown  claims  all  powers  not  expressly  dele 
gated  to  Parliament.    At  this  time  the  colonies  were  chiefly  governed  by 
"royal  prerogative.." 


. 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN 


30 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 


were  returned.  The  protests  of  the  English  manufacturers  and 
the  influence  of  Benjamin  Franklin  of  Pennsylvania,  who  was 
at  the  time  in  London,  led  Parliament  to  repeal  the  Stamp  Act 
in  1766. 

Boston  "Tea  Party"  —  But  George  III  and  his  ministers 
persuaded  Parliament  to  punish  the  colonists  by  passing  other 

acts.1  In  resistance  to  the 
principle  of  taxation  with 
out  representation,  several 
cargoes  of  tea,  which  were 
subject  to  a  very  light  tax, 
were  thrown  into  Boston 
harbor  by  the  citizens  dis 
guised  as  Indians  who  made 
up  the  "  Tea  Party."  The 
other  colonies  also  resisted 


the  new  laws  promptly  and 
vigorously. 

Boston  Port  Bill  —  At 
last  the  king  determined  to 
ruin  Boston  and  thereby  to 

frighten  all  the  other  sections  of  the  country 
into  submission.     By  the  Boston  Port  Bill  the 
harbor  was  closed  to  all  shipping.     Besides  this, 
many  British  soldiers  were  quartered  in  the  city,  to 
awe  the  inhabitants.    But  the  people  of  Massachusetts 
could  not  be  frightened,  and  many  of  the  colonists 
1       elsewhere    offered    to    assist   them,   by   donations   of 
money  and  merchandise,  to  endure  the  oppression. 

34.  The  Leaders  in  Resistance.  —  Before  the  breaking  out  of 
armed  resistance,  there  arose  several  leaders  who  by  voice  and 
pen  urged  their  friends  and  neighbors  to  assert  "  the  rights  of 

1  The  more  important  of  these  laws  and  related  events  were:  Stamp  Act, 
1765;  Townshend  Acts,  1767;  Boston  "Massacre,"  1770;  North  Carolina, 
"Insurrection  against  Governor  Tryon,"  1771;  Boston  "Tea  Party,"  1773; 
Boston  Port  Bill,  1774;  Quebec  Act,  1774;  Newfoundland  Fisheries  Act,  1775 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY  31 

Englishmen."  The  most  important  of  these  rights  had  fre 
quently  been  exercised  in  English  history.  This  was  the  right 
to  make  armed  resistance  to  the  officers  of  the  king  when  the 
subjects  believed  the  king  was  doing  wrong  Among  these 
leaders  were  Patrick  Henry  of  Virginia  and  James  Otis  of 
Massachusetts,  both  great  orators;  Samuel  Adams  of  Massa 
chusetts,  a  politician  and  organizer;  Benjamin  Franklin  of 
Pennsylvania,  printer,  journalist,  author,  scientist,  and  states 
man  ;  and  John  Dickinson,  a  lawyer  and  writer. 

Organization  for  Resistance.  —  In  one  way  and  another,  these 
men,  with  numerous  associates,  organized  the  spirit  of  opposi 
tion  and  established  "committees  of  correspondence,"  "Sons  of 
Liberty,"  "committees  of  safety,"  and  "non-importation  soci 
eties,"  so  that  when  the  people  were  sufficiently  aroused  to 
make  armed  resistance,  they  were  also  ready  to  overthrow  their 
old  governments  and  to  set  up  new  ones. 

35.  The  Patriots  and  Loyalists.  —  By  no  means  all  of  the 
American  colonists  were  ready  in  1774  to  make  armed  resist 
ance  against  the  enforcement  of  the  tax  laws  by  the  king's 
officers.  There  were  many  different  nationalities  and  races 
represented  in  the  population,  —  English,  Irish,  Scotch,  Dutch, 
Swedes,  Finns,  Germans,  French  Huguenots,  Negroes,  and 
others  in  small  numbers.  They  were  often  widely  separated 
from  one  another  in  isolated  communities,  and  news  traveled 
very  slowly  among  them. 

Loyalists  or  Tories. — Many  of  them  were  recent  immigrants, 
full  of  Old  World  ideas,  including  superstitious  reverence  for 
kings.  A  few  were  closely  dependent  upon  or  related  to  the 
royal  officers  in  the  various  colonies.  Some  were  merchants 
with  important  business  connections  with  the  people  of  Eng 
land.  Of  the  white  population,  fully  one  third  were  either 
opposed  or  indifferent  to  the  idea  of  resisting  the  power  of 
king  and  Parliament.  They  were  known  as  Loyalists  or  Tories, 
and  many  of  them  were  ready  to  help  the  British  army  put 
down  the  armed  resistance  of  their  fellow-countrymen,  who 
were  generally  known  as  Patriots. 


32 


HISTORY  OF  OUH   COUNTRY 


36.    Steps  to  Independence.  —  In  1774  a  Congress  of  delegates 
from  most  of  the  colonies  was  summoned  to  meet  at  Philadel- 


MAP 

ILLUSTRATING  THE 

REVOLUTIONARY  WAR. 


phia,  to  pro 
test  against  the 
measures  of  Great 
Britain.  Next  year 
Congress  met  again 
and  decided  to  fight 
against  Great  Britain 
and  to  appoint  a  com 
mander  in  chief  for  the 
armies  to  be  raised. 
During  the  French  and 
Indian  War,  a  young 
Virginian  of  character,  abil- 
r,  and  wealth,  named  George 
^  Washington,  had  learned  the  pro 
fession  of  arms;  and  now  he  was 
chosen  to  lead  the  American  forces. 
The  colonists  in  the  year  1775  were  not  seek- 
ing  independence  from  England,  but  had  deter 
mined  to  secure  the  right  of  self-government,  which  means  the 
right  of  each  citizen  to  vote  for  his  choice  of  rulers  and  lawmakers. 
Declaration  of  Independence.  —  After  a  year  of  fighting,  a 
majority  of  the  people  came  to  see  that,  as  a  military  necessity, 
a  new  nation  must  be  formed  here.  In  1776  Congress  published 


HISTORY  OF  OUn  COUNTRY 


LIBERTY  BELL 


the  Declaration  of  Independence  (pp.  101-104),  which  stated 
the  reasons  why  the  colonies  could  no  longer  endure  the  rule  of 
George  III,  his  ministers,  and  Parliament. 

37.  Early    Progress    of    the    War.  —  In 
1775   was    fought    the    great    battle    of 
Bunker  Hill,  near  Boston,  in  which  the 
colonists,   though   defeated,   showed   the 
English  that  they  were  stubborn  fighters. 
Soon    after    this    great    battle,    General 
George  Washington  took  command  of  the 
army  and  was  its  leader  until  the  close 
of  the  war. 

In  17 7 G  a  great  victory  was  won  on 
Christmas    night    .    at     Trenton,     New 

Jersey,  over  ^^  the  English  soldiers  and  the  Ger 
man  Hessians  S  whom  the  English  king  had  hired  to 
fight  for  him  Kjgl  in  America.  The  colonists,  however, 
were  very  poor,  Bijl  and  soon  great  armies  were  sent 
against  them,  l^gl  so  that  it  was  only  by  the  most  won 
derful  persist-  p;3  ence  that  the  resistance  was  sustained 
through  all  the  IKSl  trying  years  that  followed. 

In  1777,  in  New  York   State,  occurred   the  two 

great  battles  t;^S  °f  Saratoga,  in  which  the  English 
invasion  from  Ms8S_  Canada  under  General  Burgoyne  was 
completely  de-  yjf  i|  feated. 

In  1777-1778  the  American  army 
passed  a  terrible  winter  of 
hunger  and  cold  at  Valley 
Forge  in  Pennsylvania, 
where  George  Washington 
himself,  though  a  very 
BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT  rich  man>  endured  all  the 

privations  of  the  common  soldiers,  and  generously  spent  his 
own  wealth  for  their  relief. 

38.  The   French  Alliance.  —  In  1778  the  French  also  were 
ready  to  fight   against  their  old  enemies,  the  English,  and, 


34 


HISTORY  OF  OUIi   COUNTRY 


through  the  influence  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  made  a  treaty 
with  the  Continental  Congress  by  which  they  agreed  to  help 
the  American  cause  with  men,  money,  and  ships. 

1779-1781.  —  With  the  coming  of  the  French,  the  military 
operations  were  extended  into  the  South,  and  at  Cowpens,  in 
South  Carolina,  the  Southern  soldiers  under  General  Nathanael 
Greene  won  a  brilliant  victory  over  the  English,  in  the  winter 
of  1781.  Not  until  the  fall  of  1781,  however,  was  the  decisive 
victory  gained.  At  that  time,  witli  the  assistance  of  the  French 
soldiers  and  ships,  General  Washington  was  able  to  compel  the 
surrender  of  Lord  Cornwallis,  the  English  commander  at  York- 
town,  Virginia.  This  siege  of  Yorktown  was  the  last  impor 
tant  military  operation  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  It  was 
followed  soon  after  by  the  withdrawal  of  the  British  armies 
from  Philadelphia  and  from  New  York  and  of  their  ships 
from  the  Atlantic  Coast. 

39.  General  View  of  the  War.  —  The  Revolutionary  Wai- 
lasted  over  seven  years,  during  which  time  many  battles  were 

fought.  England  sent  over 
thousands  of  soldiers  and  many 
war  vessels.  Among  the  great 
est  heroes  of  this  war  was  Com 
modore  John  Paul  Jones,  who 
won  great  victories  at  sea. 

Character  of  the  War.  —  From 
a  military  point  of  view,  the 
Revolutionary  War  was  one  of 
the  most  interesting  in  the  his 
tory  of  mankind.  During  almost 
its  entire  course,  the  British  had 
possession  of  the  two  largest 
American  cities,  New  York  and 
Philadelphia;  and  they  won 
many  battles.  The  most  suc 
cessful  fighting  of  the  Americans  was  in  the  open  country. 
The  campaigns  of  George  Washington  were  managed  with 


JOHN  PAUL  JONES 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY  35 

the  utmost  caution  and  skill.  He  worked  against  almost 
insurmountable  difficulties,  as  his  men  were  constantly  en 
listing  and  deserting,  and  Congress  was  always  short  of  the 
money  that  was  so  necessary  to  pay  for  their  food  and 
wages. 

Emigration  of  Tories.  —  During  the  war  and  at  its  close, 
many  of  the  people  who  believed  that  the  colonies  should  not 
be  separated  from  Great  Britain  emigrated  to  Canada  or  to 
England. 

40.  The  New  Nation.  —  In  1783  a  treaty  of  peace  was  made 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  by  which  the 
independence   of   the  United  States  was   recognized  by  the 
mother   country.      The  new   nation   made  a  beginning    with 
the  thirteen  "  Original  States,"  and  with  all  the  lands  extend 
ing  west  of  those  States  as  far  as  the  Mississippi  Kiver.     In 
this  region  there  were,  however,  British  forts  not    yet  sur 
rendered,  and  many  hostile  Indians.     In  the  course  of  the 
next  fifteen  years,  the  British  withdrew  their  garrisons  from 
these  forts,  and  the  United   States   undertook   the  conquest 
of  the   soil   from    the    Indians.     Our    people    traveled    over 
the   Appalachian   Mountains   down    into   the    fertile    valleys 
of  the   Ohio,   Tennessee,  and   Cumberland  rivers,  and   soon 
had    settled    therein,    to    the    number    of    several    hundred 
thousand. 

41.  The  Constitution.  —  The  new  nation  of  the  United  States 
found  it  very  difficult  to  establish  a  good  form  of  government. 
It  was  heavily  in  debt,  and  each  of  the  States  regarded  itself 
as  an  independent  nation,  not  responsible  for  the  general  debts 
contracted  by  Congress  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war.     At 
last,  after  much  discussion,  a  convention  of  delegates  from  all 
the  States  agreed  upon   the   Constitution    that  is  at  present 
enforced  in  the  United  States.     This  was  framed  in  1 787,  and 
was  ratified  by  a  sufficient  number  of  States  to  put  it  fully  in 
operation  by  1789,  when  George  Washington  was  inaugurated 
President.     This  Constitution  is  a  system  of  political  rights, 
privileges,  and  opportunities   for  all  the  States,  for  all   the 


36 


HISTORY  OF  OUR    COUNTRY 


individual  citizens,  and  for  the  nation  as  a  whole ;  it  has  been 
wonderfully  successful  in  its  practical  operation.  (See  pages 
105  to  108.) 

Effect  of  Adoption  of  Constitution. — Its  adoption  was  followed 
by  a  rapid  revival  of  business,  which  had  suffered  almost  as 


RESUL 
FOR  INDEPENDENCE 

BOUNDARY  DEFINED  BY  TREATY  1783 
AND  TERRITORY  HELD  BY  GREAT  BR 
1783-1796..  AND  SPAIN  1783-17 


Longitude          90  West 


80        Greenwich  75 


much  from  political  troubles  after  the  war  was  over  as  it  had 
suffered  from  such  troubles  and  from  the  military  losses  during 
the  progress  of  the  war. 

Origin  of  our  Government. — Our  American  government  is 
a  product  of  long  and  slow  growth.     Very  little  of  it  is  origi- 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 


37 


nal  with  us.  The  most  important  original  feature  of  American 
democracy  is  the  complete  separation  of  church  and  state;  that 
is,  of  government  and  religion.  This  for  years  had  been  the 
dream  and  desire  of  many  philosophers  and  statesmen  of  the 
Old  World.  Most  of  our  principles  and  forms  of  government 
came  with  our  first  settlers  from  England.  Among  these  were 
the  principle  of  representation,  the  town  meeting,  and  the 
county  government.  Most  of  the  truths  embodied  in  the  Con 
stitution  came  from  England,  though  the  idea  itself  of  a  Con 
stitution  as  the  fundamental  law  of  the  nation  came  from 
France.  The  secret  ballot  came  from  Holland. 

42.  The  Administrations  of  Washington  (1789-1797).  —  Early 
in  the  administration  of  our  first  President,  the  only  one  ever 
elected  unanimously,  there  appeared  t\vo  leaders,  Alexander 
Hamilton  and  Thomas 
Jefferson,  who  held  oppos 
ing  views  regarding  the 
Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Hamilton  was  a 
Federalist  who  believed 
in  a  strong  central  gov 
ernment.  Jefferson  was 
a  Democratic-Republican 
who  believed  in  keeping 
the  States  and  individuals 
strong  and  the  nation  rela 
tively  weak. 

National  Bank.  —  Ham 
ilton,  who  was  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  in  the 
cabinet  of  Washington, 
persuaded  Congress  to 
assume  the  payment  of  all  the  debts  of  the  old  Confedera 
tion  and  of  the  States,  that  had  been  incurred  in  carry 
ing  on  the  Revolutionary  War.  To  provide  funds,  taxes 
were  levied  on  imported  goods.  A  great  national  bank  was 


GEOR<;E  WASHING' 


38 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 


established  to  assist  in  carrying  out  the  financial  plans  of  the 
Federalists. 

Foreign  Affairs.  —  Washington  successfully  urged  his  prin 
ciple  of  neutrality  in  all  Old  World  disputes,  so  that  aid  was 
denied  to  France  which  (under  a  very  different  government) 
had  helped  us  in  the  days  of  our  war  with  England.  Treaties 
were  made  with  England  and  Spain. 

Indian  Wars  and  Whisky  Insurrection.  —  General  Anthony 
Wayne,  a  Revolutionary  hero,  subdued  several  Indian  tribes 
beyond  the  Ohio.  The  national  government,  needing  a  regular 
and  sufficient  income,  enforced  an  excise  (whisky)  tax,  despite 
popular  opposition. 

43.  The  Administration  of  John  Adams  (1797-1801). — The 
next  President  was  a  strong  Federalist.     During  his  time  there 
was  much  discussion  regarding  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
foreign-born  citizens  and  the  relative  powers  of  the  national 
and  the  State  governments. 

44.  The  Administrations  of  Thomas  Jefferson  (1801-1809). — 
Jefferson  emphasized  the  importance  of  "States'  rights"  as 

the  means  of  protecting  and 
promoting  the  interests  of  the 
individual  citizens.  He  be 
lieved  in  democracy  rather  than 
aristocracy,  the  rule  of  all  by 
the  majority  rather  than  by 
the  best. 

ouisiana  Purchase. — It  was 
fyften  1803,  in  the  administration 
\/\  of  the  first  Democratic-Kepub- 
x  lican  President,  that  we  bought 
from  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  then 
First   Consul   of    France,   the 
province  of  Louisiana,  an  area 
very  much  larger  than  that  of 
*^e   thirteen   original   colonies 
THOMAS  JEFFKKSON  and  equal   to   all   that  we   had 


BISTORT  OF  OUR  COUNTRY 


39 


UNITED  STATES  IN  1803 


owned  up  to  the  time  of  its  purchase.  The  Louisiana  province 
comprised  nearly  one  million  square  miles,  and  cost  $15,000,000. 
This  region  included  in 
its  limits  the  area  now  oc 
cupied  by  the  States  of 
Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Mis 
souri,  Iowa,  North  Dakota, 
South  Dakota,  Nebraska, 
Kansas,  and  large  parts 
of  Minnesota,  Montana, 
Wyoming,  Colorado,  and 
Oklahoma. 

Embargo  Act.  —  Because  of  the  great  "  Napoleonic  wars  " 
then  raging  between  England  and  France,  the  President  and 
Congress  placed  upon  all  American  shipping  an  "  embargo " 
thatforbade  our  ships  from  clearing  port  for  foreign  lands,  to 
prevent  their  seizure  by  war  vessels  of  the  great  nations. 
This  embargo  nearly  ruined  our  commerce^.. 

~fhe~War  with  the  Pirate  States.  —  The  first  of  the  foreign 
wars  of  this  country  was  with  pirates  who  were  protected  by 
the  half-civilized  governments  of  Morocco,  Algeria,  Tunis,  and 
Tripoli,  the  so-called  Barbary  States  of  northern  Africa  border 
ing  on  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  They  favored  piracy  as  a  means 
of  national  revenue  and  because  many  of  their  chief  citizens 
were  pirates.  The  European  seamen  were  unable  to  conquer 
these  African  pirates;  but  in  battle  after  battle  on  the  high 
seas,  we  defeated  the  pirates  and  put  an  end  to  piracy  which 
had  existed  for  centuries.  The  final  treaty  abolished  piracy  in 
1805.  Among  the  heroes  of  this  naval  war  were  Bainbridge, 
Decatur,  and  Preble. 

45.  The  Administrations  of  James  Madison  (1809-1817). — 
Two  new  leaders  appeared  early  in  the  Presidency  of  Madison: 
one,  Henry  Clay  of  Kentucky,  representing  the  "  new  West," 
by  which  was  meant  the  great  region  beyond  the  Appalachian 
Mountains ;  and  the  other,  Daniel  Webster,  who  soon  became 
known  as  the  great  "expounder  of  the  Constitution." 


40  HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 

Impressment  of  Seamen.  —  Because  of  the  impressment  of 
seamen,  that  is,  taking  by  force  from  American  vessels  sailors 
of  British  birth,  and  because  of  other  disputes  with  Great 
Britain,  Clay  urged  the  nation  to  enter  upon  a  contest  with  the 
"  mother  country." 

War  of  1812.  —  The  real  causes  of  the  War  of  1812  were 
European  rather  than  American.  England  was  fighting  with 
France,  then  ruled  by  the  great  soldier  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 
On  the  sea  Great  Britain  was  supreme,  but  Napoleon  had 
possession  of  the  continent  of  Europe.  France  said  that  no 
other  country  should  trade  with  Great  Britain,  and  Great 
Britain  said  that  no  other  country  should  trade  with  France. 
The  Americans,  as  good  men  of  business,  wished  to  trade  with 
both  countries.  The  conditions  of  life  on  British  naval  vessels 
were  so  hard  that  sometimes  whole  crews  of  British  citizens 
would  desert  to  American  vessels.  These  British  subjects 
would  then  take  out  naturalization  papers1  as  American  citi 
zens.  Great  Britain  declared  that  a  man  was  a  citizen  of  the 
country  in  which  he  was  born,  and  asserted  the  right  to  re 
move  all  deserters. 

Heroes  of  the  War. — -Among  the  heroes  of  the  War  of  1812 
were  General  (later  President)  William  Henry  Harrison,  Com 
modore  Lawrence,  General  (later  President)  Andrew  Jackson, 
and  Commodore  Perry,  who  won  a  famous  victory  on  Lake  Erie. 

Course  of  the  War.  —  In  the  campaigns  on  land  the  Americans 
and  the  British  were  about  equally  successful,  though  the  Brit 
ish  seized  the  capital  city,  Washington,  and  partly  burned  it. 
The  last  great  land  battle  was  fought  at  New  Orleans  in  1815, 
after  the  treaty  of  peace  had  been  signed.2  On  the  sea  the 

1  The  United  States  has  always  been  very  friendly  to  foreign-horn  persons. 
The  American  principle  that  a  man  is  a  citizen  of  the  country  to  which  he 
attaches  himself  is  not  yet  recognized  as  an  international  principle.    The 
foreign  idea  is,  once  a  Frenchman  or  an  Englishman  or  a  German,  always  a 
Frenchman  or  an  Englishman  or  a  German. 

2  Even  as  recently  as  1815  it  took  a  month  or  more  for  news  to  reach  Amer 
ica  from  Europe.     It  took  two  weeks  more  for  news  to  travel  from  Washing 
ton  to  New  Orleans.    The  British  and  Americans  would  not  have  fought  at 
New  Orleans  if  the  telegraph  had  been  in  existence  at  that  time. 


U18TO11Y  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 


41 


Americans  were  very  much  more  successful  than  the  British, 
and  some  of  the  greatest  naval  exploits  in  the  world's  history 
took  place  during  the  war. 

Tariff  of  1816.  —  In  1815  Napoleon,  then  Emperor  of  the 
French,  was  overthrown  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo.  This  event 
was  followed  by  great  activity  in  English  manufacturing.  In 
1816,  to  prevent  our  markets  from  being  flooded  by  English 
products,  an  important  tariff  act  was  passed  by  Congress, 
imposing  a  duty  on  imported  cotton  and  woolen  goods. 


PERRY'S  VICTORY  ON  LAKE  ERIE 

46.  The  Administrations  of  James  Monroe  (1817-1825). —  The 
last  President  who  had  taken  part  in  the  War  of  Indepen 
dence  was  James  Monroe,  who,  like  Madison,  was  a  political 
disciple  of  Jefferson. 

Purchase  of  Florida.  —  In  the  year  1819,  at  the  cost  of 
$5,000,000,  we  bought  Florida  from  the  Spanish  government. 

TJie  Missouri  Compromise.  —  During  the  period  before  the 
United  States  became  an  independent  nation,  the  people  both 
in  the  North  and  in  the  South  owned  slaves.  In  fact,  they 
owned  not  only  Negro  slaves,  but  also  white  bondservants. 
The  custom  of  holding  whites  in  bondage  was  gradually  dying 

HIST.    EV.    SCII. ? 


42  HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 

out,  but  that  of  holding  Negroes  continued.  Negroes  were 
especially  valuable  as  agricultural  workers  in  the  Southern 
States,  and  in  these  States  the  entire  industrial  system  finally 
came  to  be  established  upon  the  basis  of  Negro  slavery.  One 
result  was  that  the  Southern  slave  States  wished  other  slave 
States  to  be  admitted  to  the  Union.  In  1818  the  Territory  of 
Missouri  desired  admission  as  a  slave  State.  The  free-labor 
States  were  opposed  to  the  admission  of  Missouri,  but  in  1820 
a  compromise,  now  known  as  the  Missouri  Compromise,  was 
arranged  by  which  Missouri  came  into  the  Union  as  a  slave- 
labor  State  in  1821 ;  but  in  all  the  rest  of  the  Louisiana  pur 
chase  north  of  36°  30'  slavery  was  prohibited.  Maine  came 
into  the  Union  as  a  free-labor  State  in  1820. 

Monroe  Doctrine.  —  In  1823  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  pro 
claimed  by  the  President.  This  was  an  announcement  to  the 
Old  World  that  the  United  States  would  resent  any  interfer 
ence  by  European  powers  in  the  affairs  of  the  New  World. 

47.  The  Administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams  (1825-1829). 
—  The  sixth  President  was  the  son  of  the  second.     During  his 
administration  there   was  constant   factional   strife.     Adams 
could  not  be  reflected,  but  came  back  to  Washington  from 
Massachusetts  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives 
in  Congress,  where  he  did  magnificent  service  in  defending 
the  right  of  petition  in  the  interest  of  Negro  freedom. 

48.  The  Administrations  of  Andrew  Jackson  (1829-1837). — 
Four  Presidents  are  usually  regarded  as  having  exerted  espe 
cially  great  influence  upon  our  political  development,  —  Wash 
ington,  Jefferson,  Jackson,  and  Lincoln.      Of  these,  Jackson 
represented   the  spirit  of  freedom,  equality,  and  democracy 
developed  in  the  "new  West."     He  believed  that  the  majority 
of  all  the  people  rather  than  the  best  people  should  rule ;  that 
is,  he  believed  in  democracy  rather  than  in  aristocracy. 

Webster  on  the  Constitution.  —  In  the  eventful  administration 
of  Jackson,  Webster  expounded  in  the  Senate  his  views  as  to 
the  true  meaning  of  the  Constitution  as  an  instrument  upon 
which  to  establish  a  strong  government  for  the  nation. 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY  43 

Nullification  in  South  Carolina.  —  In  a  State  convention  in 
1832,  South  Carolina  proclaimed  the  national  tariff  law  null 
and  void ;  but  Jackson  sent  the  navy  and  army  to  the  State 
and  compelled  the  people  to  obey  the  general  government. 
The  antislavery  sentiment  of  the  North,  in  which  section 
Negro  slavery,  widespread  before  the  Revolutionary  War,  had 
disappeared,  now  took  definite  form  in  the  active  measures  of 
the  Abolitionists. 

Abolition  of  Bank  of  United  States. — Perhaps  the  most  im 
portant  action  taken  by  Jackson  during  his  administrations 
was  the  abolition  of  the  great  National  Bank,  which  in  his 
judgment  had  become  too  influential  in  political  affairs.  The 
ruin  of  the  Bank  was  followed  by  the  development  of  State 
banks,  some  of  which  conducted  their  affairs  so  badly  as  to 
help  bring  on  a  general  financial  depression;  known  in  our 
history  as  the  "panic  of  1837." 

49.  The  Administration  of  Martin  Van  Buren  (1837-1841). — 
So  sensitive  had  Congress  now  become  regarding  all  questions 
of  slavery  that   a  resolution  was  passed  to  receive  without 
debate  all  communications  upon  the  subject.     In  this  adminis 
tration  our  present  national  treasury  system  was  established. 

50.  The  Administration  of  William  Henry  Harrison  (1841).  — 
The  next  President  was  a  military  hero  of  the  War  of  1812. 
He  died  after  being  but  a  month  in  office,  a  victim  of  the  office 
seekers  who  preached  and  practiced  the  Jacksonian  doctrine  of 
"  rotation  in  office."     Harrison  was  the  first  Whig  to  become 
President.     The  Whigs,  like  the  Federalists,  believed  in  a 
strong  central  government. 

51.  The  Administration  of  John  Tyler  (1841-1845).  —  The  new 
railroads,  by  making  it  easy  for  office  seekers  to  get  to  Wash 
ington,  were,  in  this  sense,  responsible  for  the  succession  of 
John  Tyler,  the  Vice  President,  to  the  Presidency.     In  his 
time  the  Whigs  carried  through  Congress  a  high  protective 
tariff. 

52.  The   Administration   of   James  Knox   Polk   (1845-1849). 
—  The    success    of    the    Democratic    candidate,    Polk,    who 


44 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 


sympathized  with  the  upholders  of  slavery  against  the  Whig 
candidate  Clay,  the  "  great  compromiser/'  was  immediately 
followed  by  the  admission  into  the  Union  of  Texas,  which  had 
won  its  independence  from  Mexico.  The  resolution  for  the 

annexation  of  Texas  had 
been  passed  just  before 
the  close  of  Tyler's  ad 
ministration.  The  area 
annexed  included  be 
sides  the  present  State  of 
Texas,  more  than  half  of 
New  Mexico,  and  parts 
of  Wyoming,  Colorado, 
Kansas,  and  Oklahoma. 
The  Mexican  War.  — 
In  1846,  after  the  annexa 
tion  of  Texas,  the  people 
of  the  slave-labor  States 
wished  to  extend  their 
territory  to  the  west  and 
south.  The  President 
sent  an  army  officer 
to  dispute  the  south 
ern  boundary  of  Texas 
with  the  Mexicans. 
This  led  to  the  Mexican 
War. 

Victory  of  the  Americans.  —  The  Southern  leaders  hoped  to 
conquer  Mexico  and  to  take  possession  of  a  large  part  of  its 
territory.  The  war  with  Mexico  was  of  brief  duration.  The 
Americans  won  many  battles,  among  the  most  famous  being 
Buena  Vista,  Cerro  Gordo,  Contreras,  and  Churubusco.  In 
September,  1847,  General  Scott  took  possession  of  the  City  of 
Mexico.  The  result  of  the  war  was  that  Mexico,  in  return  for 
$20,000,000,  ceded  to  the  United  States  a  large  portion  of 
territory,  which,  with  the  second  Mexican  cession  (the  Gadsden 


Con' 


MAP  OF  EASTERN  MEXICO 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY  45 

purchase  of  1853)  gave  us  the  region  where  we  have  now  Cali 
fornia,  Nevada,  Arizona,  Utah,  and  parts  of  Wyoming,  Colorado, 
and  New  Mexico.  Among  the  heroes  of  the  Mexican  War  were 
General  Winfield  Scott  and  General  Zachary  Taylor. 

Oregon  Boundary  Settlement.  —  In  1846  the  Oregon  bound 
ary  dispute  with  Great  Britain  was  settled.  From  the  Oregon 
country,  which  was  acquired  through  American  exploration 


ENTRY  OF  GENERAL  SCOTT  INTO  THE  CITY  OF  MEXICO 

and  settlement,  have  been  formed  the  States  of  Washington, 
Oregon,  Idaho,  and  parts  of  Montana  and  Wyoming. 

Wilmot  Proviso.  —  In  the  same  year  the  Wilmot  Proviso  was 
first  presented,  —  that  no  new  territory  of  the  United  States 
should  ever  be  open  to  slavery. 

Squatter  Sovereignty.  —  In  1848  the  doctrine  of  "  Squatter 
Sovereignty"  was  proclaimed  by  the  Democratic  Presidential 
candidate,  Lewis  Cass,  —  that  the  people  of  each  Territory, 
before  its  admission  into  the  Union  as  a  State,  should  them 
selves  decide  by  popular  vote  whether  it  should  permit  slavery 


8  ^ 


(46) 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY  47 

53.  The   Administration   of   Zachary   Taylor  (1849-1850).  - 
The  next  President  was  a  hero  of  the  Mexican  War.    The  most 
famous  political  measures  of  his  time  were  the  Compromise  of 
1850,  which  recognized  the  principle  of  "Squatter  Sovereignty," 
and  favored  a  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  denying  to  runaway  slaves 
the  right  of   trial  by  jury  and  the  right  of   habeas  corpus. 
These  measures  marked  the  progress  of  the  discussion  regard 
ing  the  presence  and  extension  of   slavery  in  the  southern 
section  of  the  country.     President  Taylor  died  soon  after  his 
inauguration. 

54.  The   Administration  of  Millard   Fillmore  (1850-1853).— 
At   the  death  of  Taylor,  the  Vice  President  succeeded  him. 
The  period  of  his  administration  was  occupied  by  the  slavery 
debate.     In  1852  Webster  and  Clay,  the  great  Whig  leaders, 
both  died  ;  and  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  a  famous  anti slavery  novel, 
written  by  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  was  first  published.     In  the 
South,  as  well  as  in  the  North,  there  was  great  anxiety  as  to 
the  future  of  Negro  slavery  and  its  effect  upon  the  industrial 
development  and  social  life  of  the  slave-holding  section  of  our 
country. 

55.  The  Administration  of   Franklin    Pierce  (1853-1857). — 
New  political  parties  now  began  to  appear.     The  Free-soilers 
set  forth  their  principles  of  "  free  soil,  free  speech,  free  labor, 
and  free  men."     In  1854  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Act,  based  on 
"  Squatter  Sovereignty,"  led  to  fearful  conditions  of  riot  and 
bloodshed,  so  that  "  I>leeding  Kansas  "  became  the  theme  of 
discussion  throughout  the  nation.     The  Republican  party  was 
formed  to  include  Free-soilers,  Abolitionists,  and  the  remain 
ing  Whigs. 

56.  The  Administration  of  James  Buchanan  (1857-1861).  —  In 
1857  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  declared  in  the 
Bred  Scott  case  that  a  slave  was  personal  property  and  could 
be  carried  into  the  free  States  without  depriving  his  master 
of  his  right  of  ownership.    The  great  debate  between  Doug 
las  and  Lincoln  followed  in  Illinois.     In  it,  Lincoln  said :  "  I 
believe  this  government  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave 


48  HISTORY  OF  OUH   COUNTRY 

and  half  free.  .  .  It  will  become  all  one  thing  or  all  the 
other." 

John  Broivn's  Raid.  — In  1859  John  Brown,  who  had  become 
famous  for  the  part  taken  by  him  in  the  Kansas  struggles, 
tried  to  start  a  Negro  insurrection  in  Virginia,  but  was  cap 
tured,  condemned,  and  executed.  His  fanatical  effort  greatly 
angered  the  Southern  slaveholders. 

Secession  of  Southern  States.  —  In  1860  all  the  political  par 
ties  were  greatly  excited  over  the  question  of  slavery,  and  the 
Democratic  party  was  split  into  factions.  The  election  of  the 
Eepublican  candidate,  Abraham  Lincoln,  resulted  in  the  seces 
sion  of  eleven  of  the  Southern  slave  States  from  the  Union,  — 
South  Carolina,  Mississippi,  Florida,  Alabama,  Georgia,  Louisi 
ana,  Texas,  Virginia,  Arkansas,  North  Carolina,  and  Tennessee, 
in  the  period  from  December,  1860,  to  May,  1861.  They 
framed  a  government  called  the  Confederate  States  of  America, 
of  which  Jefferson  Davis  was  President. 

Characteristics  of  the  South  and  the  North.  —  In  this  action, 
the  differences  between  the  Cavalier  South  and  Puritan  New 
England  culminated.  The  South  had  grown  aristocratic  and 
fond  of  leisure,  of  power,  and  of  good  living,  while  the  North, 
largely  influenced  by  New  England,  had  grown  democratic, 
industrious,  rich,  and  intolerant  of  the  Southern  social  system. 

57.  The  Administration  of  Abraham  Lincoln  (1861-1865). 
The  War  of  Secession  or  the  Civil  War.  —  Of  the  slave  States, 
four  remained  in  the  Union,  —  Delaware,  Maryland,  Kentucky, 
and  Missouri.  West  Virginia  seceded  from  Virginia,  which  had 
joined  the  Confederate  States,  and  was  admitted  into  the  Union 
of  States. 

Attack  on  Fort  Sumter.  —  In  April,  very  soon  after  the 
inauguration  of  President  Lincoln,  the  great  Civil  War,  be 
tween  the  Confederacy  and  the  Union,  began  in  earnest, 
when  Fort  Sumter,  in  Charleston  harbor,  was  attacked  by  the 
Confederates. 

Call  for  Volunteers.  —  Immediately  a  call  was  issued  for  vol 
unteers  to  defend  the  Union  and  to  compel  the  seceded  States 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY  49 

to  recognize  the  authority  of  the  government  at  Washington. 
Soon  an  army  of  Union  soldiers  was  ready  for  the  invasion  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley,  while  another  army  was  raised  to  meet 
the  Confederates  in  Virginia.  From  this  time  until  the  last 
year  of  the  war  two  campaigns  were  prosecuted,  —  one  in  the 
West  and  South,  and  the  other  in  Virginia.  The  Union  army 
went  down  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  fighting  tremendous 
battles  with  the  Confederates,  year  after  year. 

1862.  —  In  the  early  part  of  1862  they  captured  Forts  Don- 
elson  and  Henry.  In  April  was  fought  the  great  battle  of 
Shiloh,  Tennessee,  which  ended  in  a  Union  victory. 

IK 


FORT  SUMTEB 

The  Merrimac  and  the  Monitor.  —  On  March  8,  1862,  a  ter 
rific  battle  took  place  in  Hampton  Roads,  Virginia,  between 
the  Confederate  Merrimac  and  the  Union  Monitor,  the  first  iron 
clads  ever  used  in  naval  warfare.  The  result  was  favorable  to 
the  Union  cause. 

1868. — On  July  4, 1863,  the  great  Southern  fortress  of  Vicks- 
burg  on  the  Mississippi  River  was  captured.  Though  the  Union 
army  suffered  severe  defeat  by  the  Confederates  at  Chicka- 
mauga,  Tennessee,  they  retreated  to  Chattanooga,  where  they 
won  a  brilliant  victory  under  General  Grant.  The  Union  army 
then  moved  southeastward  through  the  mountains,  fighting 
many  battles,  until  they  reached  Atlanta,  Georgia. 

1864. — From  there,  in  1864,  Sherman  led  his  army  to  Sa 
vannah,  tearing  up  every  railroad,  and  burning  all  the  buildings 
for  miles  in  every  direction.  The  result  of  this  Western  and 
Southern  campaign  was  to  separate  Texas,  Louisiana,  Arkansas, 


50 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 


Mississippi,  Alabama,  Georgia,  and  Florida  from  the  Confed 
eracy,  and  to  paralyze  agriculture  and  business  throughout 
the  entire  region.  Among  the  greatest  battles  was  that 
of  Nashville  (December,  1864),  where  the  Confederate  army 
suffered 'so  great  a  defeat  by  the  Union  army  under  Thomas 
that  thereafter  it  was  unable  to  accomplish  anything  in 
opposition  to  the  Union  forces. 


MERRIMAC  AND  MOMTOR 

Campaign  in  Virginia,  1861-1865.  —  The  campaign  in  Vir 
ginia  was  of  a  very  different  nature,  for  the  armies  again  and 
again  fought  over  the  same  territory;  even  more  men  were 
engaged  here  than  in  the  Western  and  Southern  campaign,  and 
greater  battles  were  fought.  In  July,  1861,  the  Union  army 
suffered  a  great  defeat  at  Bull  Run,  not  far  from  Washington ; 
and  in  the  "Peninsular  Campaign"  in  1862  their  attempt  to 
capture  the  Confederate  capital,  Richmond,  ended  in  failure. 
The  Southern  general,  Robert  E.  Lee,  then  made  an  invasion 
of  the  North,  but  was  stopped  by  the  Union  victory  at  Antie- 
tam,  Maryland,  in  September,  1862.  Two  more  attempts  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  OUR    COUNTRY 


51 


Union  army  to  advance  on  Richmond  resulted  in  their  defeat 
at  Fredericksburg  in  December,  1862,  and  at  Chancellorsville 
in  May,  1863.  On  July  1,  2,  and  3  of  1863,  Lee's  second  in 
vasion  of  the  North  was  stopped  by  the  tremendous  battle  of 
Gettysburg,  Pennsylvania,  in  which  nearly  one  hundred 
thousand  men  were  engaged  on  each  side.  Although  Lee  was 
defeated,  the  Confederate  army  in  Virginia  continued  to  fight 
for  two  years  more. 


THE  CONFEDERATE  STATES 

Surrender  of  Lee.  —  Finally,  after  great  battles  in  the  Wil 
derness  and  the  siege  and  capture  of  Richmond,  General  Lee 
was  forced  to  surrender  to  General  Grant  at  Appomattox  Court 
House  in  Virginia  in  April,  1865.  This  ended  the  Civil  War. 
It  is  much  to  the  credit  of  the  South  that  no  rebel  bands  con 
tinued  to  fight  in  the  mountains  of  Tennessee  after  the  sur 
render  of  Lee.  It  is  also  to  the  credit  of  the  soldiers  on  both 


62  HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 

sides  that,  after  the  war  was  over,  they  returned  to  their  homes 
and  to  such  peaceful  occupations  as  they  could  find. 

Cost  of  the  War.  —  The  War  of  Secession  was  a  costly  one 
both  in  lives  and  in  treasure.  Nearly  a  million  men  perished 
in  it,  and  many  who  survived  were  maimed  or  disabled  for  life. 
Pensions  to  the  Union  soldiers  have  already  been  paid  to  the 
amount  of  more  than  $2,000,000,000,  and  the  end  is  not  yet. 
Soldiers'  homes  for  both  Union  and  Confederate  soldiers  have 


SURRENDER  OF  GENERAL  LEE 

been  built,  the  former  by  the  national  government,  and  the 
latter  by  the  Southern  States  and  by  popular  subscriptions.  It 
is  estimated  that  the  cost  of  the  war  in  money  fell  little  short 
of  $10,000,000,000.  This  includes  the  large  sums  of  money 
borrowed  to  help  put  State  troops  in  the  field,  and  the  great 
loss  of  the  Southern  States,  by  the  destruction  of  buildings  and 
other  property. 

Emancipation  of  Slaves.  —  The  South  lost  also  the  value  of 
$2,000,000,000  in  slaves  set  free  by  President  Lincoln's  Eman- 


msTonr  OF  oun  COUNTRY 


cipation  Proclamation  in  1863.  Their  freedom  was  confirmed 
by  the  Thirteenth,  Fourteenth,  and  Fifteenth  Amendments  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  adopted  in  1805,  1868, 
and  1870.  (See  p.  108.) 

Effects  of  the  War.  —  Yet  the  conflict  was  inevitable  and  its 
result  has  been  almost  wholly  for  the  good  of  the  American 
people.  It  has  spread  the  system  of  free  labor  over  the  entire 
Union,  and  has  made  the  United  States  one  nation,  indivisible 
in  fact  as  it  was  in  theory  before  the  war.  Especially  for  the 
South  the  war  was  really  a  blessing,  though  in  frightful  dis 
guise,  for  Negro  slavery  prevented  industrial  progress,  since 
slave  labor  does  not  stimulate  inventive  genius  and  cannot 
compete  successfully  with  free  labor  in  mills  and  factories. 
Even  the  agricultural  con 
ditions  of  the  South  are  far 
better  to-day  than  they 
were  before  the  war  was 
fought,  for  as  a  wage-earner 
the  Negro  is  more  profitable 
to  his  employer  than  he 
was  as  a  slave  to  his  owner. 

Other  Affairs.  — In  the 
administration  of  Lincoln 
national  banks  were  estab 
lished,  to  assist  in  carry 
ing  on  the  affairs  of  the 
general  government  and 
also  in  developing  the  busi 
ness  of  the  country.  The  foreign  affairs  were  greatly  com 
plicated  because  several  European  nations  were  disposed  to 
assist  the  Confederacy  to  establish  itself  as  an  independent 
nation.  The  diplomacy  of  the  minister  to  England,  Charles 
Francis  Adams,  and  the  oratory  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  who 
from  the  platform  appealed  to  the  English  people  to  encourage 
the  Union  in  setting  free  the  Negro  slaves,  prevented  recogni 
tion  of  the  Confederacy  by  Great  Britain. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


54  HISTORY  OF  OUR  COUNTRY 

Assassination  of  Lincoln.  —  On  April  14, 1865,  the  President 
was  assassinated ;  and  the  Vice  President  succeeded  to  his 
office. 

58.  The  Administration  of   Andrew  Johnson  (1865-1869). — 
After  the  war  was  over,  a  great  political  problem  confronted 
the  statesmen  of  the  nation.      This  was  the  problem  of  the 
method  in  which  the  former  Confederate  States  should  resume 
their  places  in  Congress  and  in  government  affairs.      Some 
people  thought  that  Congress  should  require  each   State  to 
apply  for  admission  as  though  it  were  a  new  State.     Others, 
following  the  opinion  of  Lincoln,  thought  that  the  States  should 
be  encouraged  to  resume  their  former  places  in  the  Union  in 
every  respect  as  though  they  had  never  seceded.      Unfortu 
nately,  a  third  set  of  leaders  secured  power  in  the  government; 
so  that  in  the  Southern  States,  for  many  years  afterward,  the 
Southern  whites  who  had  not  fought  in  Confederate  armies  and 
the  newly  freed  Negroes  had  almost  absolute  power.     To  this 
Southern  side  were  added  some  Northern  men  known  as  "carpet 
baggers,"  who  went  to  the  South  solely  for  the  sake  of  getting 
public  offices.     In  this  wretched  way,  the  political  reconstruc 
tion  of  the  South  was  carried  on. 

Industrial  Condition  of  the  South.  —  After  the  war  the  indus 
trial  and  agricultural  affairs  were  in  almost  equally  unfortunate 
condition  with  the  political.  At  present,  however,  the  South 
is  progressive  and  prosperous,  and  its  industrial  conditions  are 
much  like  those  of  the  North,  except  for  differences  in  climate 
and  the  presence  of  many  Negroes  in  the  population. 

Purchase  of  Alaska.  —  In  1867  we  purchased  Alaska  from 
Russia,  at  a  cost  of  $7,200,000. 

Pacific  Railroad.  —  In  1869  the  first  railroad  from  the  Atlan 
tic  to  the  Pacific  was  completed.  This  was  a  political  as  well 
as  a  business  tie  between  the  West  and  the  East. 

59.  The  Administrations  of  Ulysses  Simpson  Grant  (i 869-1877). 
—  Early  in  the  first  administration  of  Grant,  an  international 

Court  of  Claims,  meeting   at   Geneva,  awarded  damages  of 
$15,500,000  payable  by  Great  Britain  to  the  United   States 


U1STOBY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 


55 


because  she  had  permitted  several  cruisers  to  be  built  and  fitted 
out  in  her  ports  by  the  Confederacy,  to  attack  Union  merchant 
vessels  upon  the  high  seas. 

Centennial  Exposition.  —  In  1876,  one  hundred  years  after 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  there  was  held  in  Phila 
delphia  the  Centennial  Ex 
position,  to  celebrate  the 
independence  of  the  United 
States.  There  had  been 
other  expositions  before  this, 
but  their  effect  was  by  no 
means  so  great  upon  the 
national  welfare.  This  ex 
position  did  much  to  encour 
age  invention  and  scientific 
discovery  in  the  United 
States,  and  brought  together 
people  from  all  sections. 

Election  of  Hayes.  —  Dur 
ing  the  terms  of  Grant  there 
was  much  dissatisfaction  in 
the  North  over  the  corruption  in  the  government  of  the  nation 
and  of  certain  cities,  especially  New  York.  Even  greater  dis 
satisfaction  existed  in  the  South  over  the  corruption  and 
incompetence  of  the  State  governments.  The  popular  dis 
approval  of  the  conditions  of  our  government  led  to  a  very 
exciting  presidential  campaign  in  1876.  The  opposing  candi 
dates  were  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  a  Democrat,  and  Rutherford  B. 
Hayes,  a  Republican.  In  the  election  the  Democrats  polled  a 
much  larger  popular  vote  than  the  Republicans ;  but  a  great 
dispute  arose  as  to  which  had  a  majority  in  the  Electoral 
College.1  This  was  finally  settled,  in  favor  of  the  Republicans, 
by  a  special  Electoral  Commission. 

60.    The  Administration  of  Rutherford  Birchard  Hayes  (1877- 
1881).  —  Early   in    his   administration,  Hayes  withdrew  the 

1  See  p.  73. 


ULYSSES  S.  GRANT 


56  HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 

Federal  troops  that  had  been  stationed  in  South  Carolina  and 
elsewhere  ever  since  the  Civil  War.  This  popular  act  marked 
the  end  of  the  reconstruction  of  the  Southern  States  by 
military  force. 

Railroad  Strike.  —  In  1877  a  railroad  strike  in  Pittsburg  led 
to  riot,  and  marked  the  beginning  of  strife  and  violence  in  this 
country  between  capital  and  labor. 

Return  to  Sound  Money.  — The  United  States  government  had 
been  so  greatly  burdened  by  the  debt  of  the  Civil  War  that, 
until  1879,  it  was  compelled  to  maintain  a  currency  of  paper 
money  without  actual  redemption  value  in  gold  and  silver. 
Then  it  became  able  once  more  to  pay  its  obligations  in  money 
of  intrinsic  (real)  value  as  metal.  This  great  event  did  much 
to  promote  domestic  business  and  international  trade;  for,  after 
this  time,  the  standard  money  of  the  United  States  was  stand 
ard  everywhere  else,  as  it  had  always  been  up  to  the  time  of 
the  financial  disaster  of  the  Civil  War. 

61.  The  Administration  of  James  Abram  Garfield  (1881). — 
The  next  President  was  an  able  and  genial  man,  who  fell  by 
the  hand  of  a  political  "crank"  July  2,  1881,  before  he  had 
been  able  to  render  that  service  to  his  country  for  which  he 
was  admirably  fitted  by  his  talents,  education,  and  experience. 

62.  The  Administration  of  Chester  Alan  Arthur  (1881-1885).  — 
The   important   events  of  the  administration   of  the   fourth 
President  who  succeeded  from  the  Vice  Presidency  were  the 
passage  of  a  civil  service  reform  law,  which  made  merit  the 
sole  qualification  for  office,  a  reduction   in   the  tariff  below 
the  high  rates  which  had  prevailed  since  the  Civil  War,  and 
an  act  suspending  for  ten  years  the  immigration  of  Chinese 
laborers. 

63.  The  First  Administration  of  Grover  Cleveland  (1885-1889). 
—  From  1861   to  1885,  all  the  Presidents  were  Republicans. 
The  new  President  was  a  Democrat.    In  his  first  term,  Congress 
passed  acts  to  regulate  interstate  commerce  and  to  fix  the 
presidential  succession  in  the  event  of  the  death  of  both  the 
President  and  Vice  President. 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY  57 

64.  The  Administration  of  Benjamin  Harrison  (1889-1893). — 
The  next  President  was  a  grandson  of  William  Henry  Harrison, 
and  a  Republican.     In  his  term  there  was  legislation  by  Con 
gress  concerning  silver  as  legal  tender  money  and  regarding  the 
tariff.     The  law  concerning  the  exclusion  of  Chinese  laborers 
was  reenacted  for  another  ten-year  period. 

65.  The  Second  Administration  of  Grover  Cleveland  (1893-1897). 
—  In  1893  a  commercial  panic  set  in,  caused  in  part  by  the 
unwise  legislation  regarding  silver.     The  President  persuaded 
Congress  to  pass  a  tariff  bill  reducing  charges  upon  imports. 
An  act  establishing  a  national  income  tax  was  declared  uncon 
stitutional  by  the  United  States  Supreme  Court.1 

World's  Columbian  Exposition.  —  In  1893  there  was  held  at 
Chicago  an  exposition  to  celebrate  the  four  hundredth  anni 
versary  of  the  discovery  of  the  New  World  by  Christopher 
Columbus.  This  Columbian  Exposition  was  the  greatest  to 
that  time  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and  showed  to  what 
heights  the  United  States  and  the  other  great  nations  of 
the  earth  had  attained  in  the  course  of  their  progress  in 
civilization. 

66.  The  Administration  of  William  McKinley  (1897-1901).— 
Early  in  his  first  administration,  the  President  called  a  special 
session  of  Congress  which  passed  an  improved  tariff  act.     This 
greatly  benefited  American  business. 

Causes  of  the  American- Spanish  War. — The  vast  empire  of 
Spain  in  North  America  and  South  America  had  long  been 
dwindling  in  area  until,  in  1898,  all  the  territories  that  she 
owned  were  the  islands  of  Cuba  and  Porto  Kico,  southeast  of 
the  United  States.  Spain  treated  the  Cubans  so  cruelly  that 
they  were  constantly  in  rebellion  against  the  government.  The 
rebellion  of  1895  had  continued  for  three  years  with  detriment 
to  American  commerce  and  investments  in  Cuba.  Further- 

1  In  both  nation  and  State,  throughout  the  United  States,  the  constitutions 
of  nation  and  State  make  the  supreme  law.  These  are  interpreted  by  the 
Supreme  Courts  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  various  States.  An  act  passed 
by  Congress  or  a  State  Legislature  is  not  a  law  when  the  Supreme  Court  declares 
that  it  violates  some  constitutional  provision. 


58 


HISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY 


more,  the  moral  sentiments  of  the  Americans  were  shocked 
by  the  cruelty  of  the  Spaniards  toward  the  Cubans.  At  last 
the  United  States  government  and  people,  especially  angered 
by  the  destruction  of  our  battleship  Maine  in  Havana  harbor, 
declared  war. 

Manila  and  Santiago.  —  Admiral  Dewey  speedily  took  Ma 
nila,  the  capital  of  the  Spanish  islands  of  the  Philippines,  far 
away  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  An  invading  army  was  sent  to 
Santiago,  Cuba,  while  a  naval  squadron  blockaded  the  coast  of 


THK  OHEGON  AT  SANTIAGO 

the  islands.  There,  in  a  great  naval  fight  with  the  Spanish 
war  vessels,  the  Americans  were  as  successful  as  they  had  been 
at  Manila.  Santiago  was  then  quickly  taken  by  the  American 
land  forces. 

Results  of  the  War.  —  The  result  of  this  war  was  that  Spain 
abandoned  Cuba,  surrendered  Porto  Hico  and  the  island  of 
Guam  as  a  war  indemnity,  and  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of 
$20,000,000  ceded  the  Philippine  Islands  to  the  United  States. 
For  a  time  the  United  States  maintained  government  in  Cuba ; 
but  in  1902  the  island  became  an  independent  republic  under 
our  protection  in  international  affairs. 


BISTORY  OF  OUR   COUNTRY  59 

Hawaii  and  Tittuila.  —  In  1898  we  annexed  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  and  in  1900  they  were  erected  into  a  territory  of  the 
United  States.  In  1900  Tutuila  and  some  neighboring  islands 
in  the  Pacific  became  the  property  of  the  United  States  by 
treaty  with  Germany  and  Great  Britain. 

Interference  in  China.  —  In  1900  our  government  took  a  very 
prominent  and  successful  part  in  the  international  troubles  in 
China,  where  great  mobs  arose  to  drive  out  all  foreigners. 

Assassination  of  McKtnley.  —  Early  in  McKinley's  second 
term,  at  the  Pan-American  Exposition  in  Buffalo,  September, 
1901,  the  President  was  assassinated  by  a  foreign-born  citizen 
who  had  never  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  our  public  schools, 
and  had  never  learned  that  our  President  directs  the  affairs  of 
the  nation  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  the  people  and  for 
their  best  welfare. 

67.  The  Administrations  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  (1901-1909).  — 
Again  a  Vice  President  succeeded  to  the  Presidency.  The 
chief  acts  of  his  administration  were  the  suppression  of  native 
insurrections  in  the  Philippines,  the  establishment  there  of 
American  control  and  education,  the  encouragement  of  the 
Cuban  Republic,  the  settlement  of  a  great  controversy  between 
capital  and  labor  in  the  coal  mines  of  Pennsylvania,  arrange 
ments  for  the  completion  by  the  United  States  of  a  canal  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  the  recognition  of  the  republic 
of  Panama.  The  law  concerning  the  exclusion  of  Chinese 
laborers  was  reenacted  for  another  ten-year  period,  and  was 
applied  also  to  the  islands  belonging  to  the  United  States. 

Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition.  — In  1904  a  magnificent  expo 
sition  was  conducted  at  St.  Louis  to  celebrate  the  centennial 
anniversary  of  our  purchase  of  Louisiana. 

Gold  Standard.  —  In  the  presidential  campaigns  of  189G, 
1900,  and  1904  the  adoption  by  this  nation  of  the  single  gold 
standard  for  its  currency  was  determined  by  the  defeat  of  the 
opponents  of  this  single  standard  at  the  polls  in  the  first  two 
campaigns  and  in  the  Democratic  presidential  convention  in 
the  last  campaign. 

HIST.    EV.    SCH. — 4 


60  HISTORY  or  oun  COUNTRY 

Labor  Troubles.  —  In  the  summer  of  1904,  two  great  labor 
wars  took  place,  the  first  in  Colorado,  between  the  mine  owners 
and  the  unionists,  and  the  second  in.  Chicago,  between  the  rich 
packers  of  meat  and  their  employees.  These  wars  were  closely 
associated  in  the  public  mind  with  the  discussions  over  trusts 
and  pools  in  their  relations  to  the  general  welfare.  The  whole 
nation  was  much  concerned  also  regarding  the  social  relations  be 
tween  the  whites  and  the  Negroes  in  the  South.  Great  interest 
was  felt  also  in  the  investigation  conducted  by  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States  into  the  relations  existing  in  Utah  between 
the  Mormon  Church  and  the  State  government.  The  question 
of  tariff  revision  was  also  prominent  in  the  minds  of  the 
people. 

Legislation  of  1906.  —  In  1906  Congress  passed  several  laws 
for  the  more  effective  control  of  interstate  commerce. 

The  Administration  of  William  Howard  Taft  (1909-1913).— 
Upon  assuming  office  in  1909,  President  Taft  called  a  special 
session  of  Congress,  which  passed  a  new  tariff  act.  A  tax  was 
levied  on  the  net  earnings  of  every  corporation  in  excess  of 
$ 5000  a  year.  There  was  much  discussion  of  "  conservation," 
which  means  the  saving  of  forests,  mines,  water  powers,  etc., 
for  the  benefit  of  the  public.  In  the  States  and  in  the  nation 
there  was  much  agitation  for  more  democratic  methods  of 
government. 

Present  Issues.  —  In  general,  the  great  questions  now  before 
the  American  people  may  all  be  resolved  into  one :  Can  we 
establish  and  maintain  that  personal  freedom  and  equality 
before  the  law  for  all  our  citizens,  rich  and  poor,  white  and 
black,  native  and  foreign-born,  to  which  we  are  dedicated  by 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  Constitution,  and  the 
awful  experience  of  the  Civil  War? 


PART   III 
GOVERNMENT   AND   CITIZENSHIP 

68.  The  Rights  of  the  Citizen. — Every  man,  woman,  and 
child  born  in  the  United  States,  or  naturalized  in  accordance 
with  the  provisions  of  the  laws  of  the  nation  and  of  any  State, 
has  rights  and  duties  which  are  the  result  of  our  national 
history.  This  country  is  a  representative  democracy,  in  which 
each  citizen  is  meant  to  be  equal  before  the  law  with  every 


THE  CAPITOL  AT  WASHINGTON 

other  citizen,  and  in  which  no  man  inherits  more  rights,  offices, 
duties,  or  obligations  in  state  or  church  than  those  of  any  other 
person.  Each  man  has  equal  rights  with  every  other  man  to 
think,  speak,  and  act  freely,  to  buy  and  sell  property,  to  hold 
office,  and  to  vote  upon  questions  of  government. 

61 


62  OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT 

Enumeration  of  Rights.  —  An  American  citizen  has  the  right 
to  be  considered  innocent  before  he  is  proved  guilty ;  that  is, 
he  has  the  right  to  a  jury  trial  and  to  be  represented  by  coun 
sel  in  the  courts.  He  cannot  be  imprisoned  without  a  hearing 
except  for  such  crimes  as  murder  and  arson,  when  the  evidence 
is  strongly  against  him.  Even  then,  by  reason  of  the  habeas 
corpus  law,  he  has  the  right  to  a  speedy  trial  before  a  jury  of 
his  equals.  Further,  he  has  the  right  to  be  protected  by  the 
police  and  militia  in  his  property,  and  in  his  person  from 
assault  and  battery.  These  rights  were  not  secured  without 
struggles  through  centuries.  Within  forty  years,  white  masters 
sometimes  treated  their  Negro  slaves  with  the  utmost  brutality 
and  without  fear  of  punishment.  By  reason  of  his  constitu 
tional  rights,  the  citizen  is  a  free  man ;  his  house  must  not  be 
searched  or  even  entered  except  by  due  warrant  at  law,  which 
protects  him  from  personal  harm. 

69.  The  Duties  of  the  Citizen.  —  The  citizen  has  certain  duties 
prescribed  by  law  and  others  prescribed  by  morals  and  common 
custom.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  citizen  to  take  up  arms  for  his 
country  when  it  is  invaded  by  foreign  enemies  or  when  domes 
tic  peace  is  broken  by  riot  and  mob  violence.  As  the  citizen 
has  the  right  to  be  protected  from  others  who  would  do  him 
harm,  so  he  has  the  duty  of  protecting  others  from  harm.  It  is 
the  citizen's  duty  to  serve  on  juries  for  the  trial  of  criminal 
offenses.  Such  are  some  of  his  legal  duties. 

Duties  as  a  Voter.  —  Morally  it  is  the  duty  of  the  citizen  to 
vote  at  all  elections  and  to  attend  the  party  primaries  in  which 
candidates  are  nominated  for  office.  It  is  his  duty  to  equip 
himself  to  vote  intelligently  upon  public  questions.  To  do 
this,  he  needs  to  study  the  history  of  our  country,  the  prin 
ciples  of  our  government,  and  the  actual  questions  before  the 
community,  the  State,  or  the  nation. 

Public  Office.  —  It  is  the  duty  of  the  citizen  to  take  public 
office  when  regularly  nominated  and  elected  to  such  office.  It 
is  good  government  in  America  that  makes  property  secure  and 
valuable;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  a  citizen  to  serve  that  govern- 


OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT  63 

ment,  when  requested  to  do  so  by  a  majority  of  his  fellow- 
men,  in  any  office  for  which  his  talents  fit  him,  unless  some 
other  and  greater  public  duty  already  claims  his  time  and 
effort. 

Public  Zeal.  —  It  is  the  duty  of  the  citizen  to  resist  all  acts 
and  measures  by  which  the  public  welfare  is  endangered  or 
the  rights  of  any  of  his  fellow-citizens  are  infringed.  It  is 
his  duty  to  know  the  facts  regarding  his  city  government,  its 
officials,  its  expenditures,  and  its  policies.  The  American  citi 
zen,  therefore,  has  not  only  many  rights,  but  also  many  duties. 

70.  Naturalization.  —  The  term  "citizen,"  in  American  gov 
ernment,  is  used  in  two  different  senses.  Sometimes  it  means 
any  person  —  man,  woman,  or  child — born  in  this  country. 
As  far  as  property  holding  is  concerned,  women  have  nearly 
the  same  rights  as  men.  Children,  as  well  as  men  and  women, 
have  the  right  to  the  protection  of  our  flag,  wherever  they  go, 
in  any  part  of  the  world.  All  these  people  have  equal  rights 
to  the  protection  of  their  property  and  their  person 

Qualifications  of  Voters.  —  The  word  "citizen"  is,  however, 
often  used  with  a  different  meaning,  as  the  equivalent  of 
"voter."  In  several  States  now,  women  over  twenty -one 
years  of  age,  as  well  as  men  over  that  age,  may  vote  and 
hold  office.  Generally,  however,  the  word  "  citizen  "  means  a 
man  who  is  a  voter.  In  some  States  not  all  men  over  twenty- 
one  years  of  age  may  vote,  but  only  those  who  have  certain 
qualifications  in  the  way  of  education. 

Laics  of  Naturalization.  —  Our  country  introduced  a  new 
principle  in  international  affairs  by  permitting  the  natives  of 
other  countries  to  come  here  and  to  be  naturalized  as  citizens. 
The  laws  with  regard  to  naturalization  are  uniform  in  all  the 
States.  At  least  five  years'  residence  in  the  United  States  is 
necessary,  together  with  a  declaration  of  intention  to  become 
a  citizen  two  years  before  the  citizenship  papers  are  issued. 
Once  naturalized,  the  foreign-born  citizen  has  the  same  rights 
as  the  native  citizen,  with  the  single  exception  that  he  cannot 
be  elected  President  of  the  United  States. 


64  OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT 

71.  The  Ballot.  —  The  right  to  vote  and  the  duty  to  vote 
thoughtfully  are  among  the  most  important  features  of  Ameri 
can  citizenship.     Elections  are  held  in  accordance  with  regular 
provisions  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  of  the 
constitution  of  each  particular  State.     Usually  one  year's  resi 
dence  within  a  particular  State  is  required  before  a  citizen  of 
another  State  may  vote  in  the  State  into  which  he  has  moved. 
In  many  States  the  ballot  is  now  secret,  so  that  no  influence 
can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  voter  by  an  employer,  a  cred 
itor,  or  any  other  person.     The  counting  of  ballots  is  made  with 
the  utmost  scrupulousness  as  to   accuracy  and    honesty.     In 
this    respect   there  has  been  a  marked  improvement  in  the 
United  States  in  the  past  twenty  years. 

72.  Office  Holding.  —  A  successful  candidate  for  office  enters 
upon  the  duties  of  that  office  in  accordance  with  the  require 
ments  of  the  constitutions  and  statute  laws  of  the  nation  and 
State.     His  first  duty  is  to  inform  himself  as  to  the  duties  of 
the  office  and  as  to  the  condition  of  its  business  affairs.      It  is 
then  his  obligation  to  his  constituents,  who  include  those  who 
voted  against  him  as  well  as  those  who  voted  for  him,  to  per 
form  the  duties  of  his  office  for  the  best  welfare  of  his  whole 
community.     Once  an  office  holder,  public  business  should  be 
considered  as  preceding  in  importance  any  kind  of  private 
business.     The  office  holder  ought  to  carry  on  the  business  of 
his  office  conscientiously  and  impartially.     It  is  greatly  to  the 
credit  of  most  American  office  holders  that  they  are  honest 
and   industrious  in  the  performance  of  their  duties.     Good 
government  depends  quite  as  much  upon  good  men  in  office  as 
upon  the  laws  that  they  are  elected  or  appointed  to  carry  out. 

73.  Town  or  Township  Meeting.  —  In  the  New  England  States 
and  in  certain  other  States,  town  meetings  are  often  main 
tained  to  carry  out  the  principles  of  pure  democracy,  that  is, 
to  bring  the  government  as  near  the  people  as  possible.     At 
these  town  meetings,  annual  and  special,  the  citizens  discuss 
and  settle,  usually  by  ballot,  all  local  public  measures.     If  the 
town  meeting  were  practicable  in  all  circumstances,  it  would 


OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT  66 

be  the  ideal  method  for  making  all  laws  and  electing  all 
officers ;  but  the  limits  of  the  town  meeting  are  very  narrow. 
At  most,  not  over  a  few  hundred  men  can  gather  together  in 
public  meeting  and  debate  and  deliberate  calmly  and  judicially. 
Large  meetings  are  apt  to  be  swayed,  now  this  way  and  now 
that,  by  excessive  popular  enthusiasm.  In  great  cities,  meet 
ings  of  all  the  interested  citizens  in  one  place  are  impossible. 
The  town  meetings  are  decreasing  in  number  because  of  the 
growth  of  communities.  Local  problems  now  require  fixed 
policies  of  government  and  continuous  policies  supported 
systematically  by  parties. 

74.  County  Government.  —  The  powers  of  county  government 
and  of  local  government  differ  greatly  in  various  parts  of  the 
country.     The  county  in  New  England  is  of  very  much  less 
importance  than  it  is  in  Virginia.     Generally,  counties  have 
charge  of  the  roads,  the  hospitals,  the  paupers,  and  the  criminals. 

75.  City    Government.  —  Cities    usually    grow    from    towns. 
When  the  system  of  town  government  has  become  inadequate 
for  a  community,  the  city  is  established  either  in  accordance 
with  general  State  laws,  or  in  accordance  with  a  specific  charter 
granted  by  the  State.     Usually,  cities  undertake,  in  addition 
to  the  governmental  duties  of  towns,  some  of  the  duties  of 
counties.     Occasionally,  a  city  is  partly  within  one  county  and 
partly  within  another.     Usually,  however,  like  the  town,  it  is 
within  the  county  jurisdiction.     The  conditions  of  life  are  so 
much  more  complicated  in  cities  than  in  towns  that  the  large 
cities  must  undertake  many  things   not  required   of  towns. 
The  large  cities  must  have  streets  paved  with  stone,  brick,  or 
asphalt,  and  sewers  carrying  off  the  waste  of  households  and 
factories.     They  must  have  a  large  police  force.     They  need 
such   public   buildings   as   city   halls,   hospitals,  fire   houses, 
libraries,  and  great  schoolhouses. 

Complexity  of  City  Government.  —  The  departments  to  be 
administered  by  a  modern  city  government  are  so  numerous 
as  to  make  a  business  quite  as  complicated  as  that  of  the 
•greatest  commercial  enterprises.  Large  cities  raise  by  taxes 


66 


OUR    CIVIL    GOVERNMENT 


many  millions  of  dollars  a  year,  all  of  which  should  be  ex 
pended  economically  and  wisely.  The  city  has  hundreds  and 
even  thousands  of  employees,  such  as  school  teachers,  firemen, 
and  policemen ;  and  these  employees  range  in  ability  from  the 
common  unskilled  laborer  to  the  chief  of  police,  the  expert  city 
engineer,  the  school  superintendent,  and  the  mayor. 


Illtiillllll 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY,  BOSTON 

Functions  of  City  Government.  —  The  city  touches  the  life 
of  the  individual  American  at  many  points.  It  educates  him 
in  the  public  schools ;  if  he  is  poor,  it  cares  for  him  in  sick 
ness  ;  it  protects  him  in  his  person  and  property ;  it  looks  out 
for  his  health  by  the  various  resources  of  the  health  depart 
ment  and  by  city  ordinances  relating  to  garbage,  sewers,  and 
public  nuisances ;  it  licenses  the  drivers  of  vehicles  that  trans 
port  him  and  his  goods ;  it  maintains  firemen  and  fire  apparatus 
to  protect  his  home  from  destruction  by  fire;  it  lends  him 
books  at  the  public  library ;  and  if  he  dies  penniless,  it  buries 
him  decently  in  the  public  grounds  of  the  cemetery. 


OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT 


67 


76.  State  Government.  —  Of  all  the  governments  to  which  the 
individual  citizen  is  subject,  the  most  important  and  the  most 
extensive  in  the  range  of  its  jurisdiction  is  that  of  the  State, 
which  makes  nine  out  of  ten  of  the  laws  by  which  the  citizen 
is  governed. 

Functions  of  State  Government.  —  The  State  by  its  Legislature 
determines  most  of  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  citizen.  It 
determines  the  religious  rights  of  the  citizen;  it  provides  for 
his  education ;  it  regulates  the  ballot ;  it  prescribes  the  rules 
of  marriage,  and  the  legal  relations  of  husband  and  wife  and 


A 


of  parent  and  child;  it 
defines  what  power  the 
employer  has  over  his 
employee,  the  master  over 
his  servant,  the  business 
man  over  his  agent;  it 
regulates  the  affairs  of 
partners,  of  debtors  and 
creditors ;  it  makes  the 
laws  for  the  inheritance  CAPITOL  BUILDING,  ALBANY,  N.Y. 

of  property,  for  its  sale  and  purchase,  and  for  the  renting  and 
leasing  and  mortgaging  of  property  ;  it  decides  the  conditions 
for  business  contracts  and  for  the  hiring  of  labor ;  it  enforces 
nearly  all  the  laws  regarding  crime  and  civil  injuries  between 
man  and  man ;  it  legislates  regarding  the  poor  and  the  insane, 
and  takes  care  of  criminals  convicted  of  serious  offenses ;  it 
requires  the  building  and  maintenance  of  roads  and  schools ; 
it  decides  upon  what  conditions  corporations  may  be  estab 
lished, —  municipal,  public,  and  private.  The  municipal  cor 
porations  include  cities  and  incorporated  towns,  villages,  and 
boroughs.  The  public  corporations  include  railroads  and  street 
railways,  gas  companies,  and  water  companies,  requiring  rights 
of  way  over  land.  The  private  corporations  include  fire  and 
life  insurance  companies  and  all  companies  engaged  in  busi 
ness  in  accordance  with  charters  granted  to  them  by  the  State 
government. 


68  OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT 

Our  State  Government  is  Unique.  —  In  many  respects  our 
national  government  is  not  unlike  that  of  certain  nations  in 
Europe.  European  cities,  too,  are  governed  very  much  as  are 
our  American  cities.  The  counties  and  parishes  of  England 
are  not  unlike  those  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States. 
But  to  the  American  State  government,  no  government  in 
Europe  exactly  or  even  closely  corresponds.  There  was  a 
time  in  the  history  of  our  country  when  many  citizens  felt 
that  they  owed  allegiance  to  their  State  rather  than  to  the 
United  States.  It  was  this  feeling  that  caused  the  great  body 
of  Southerners  to  support  their  leaders  in  the  effort  to  estab 
lish  the  Confederate  States.  Many  Southerners  did  not  be 
lieve  in  slavery,  but  all  of  them  believed  in  State  patriotism. 
In  the  American  scheme  of  government,  counties  and  towns 
are  little  more  than  convenient  forms  for  subdividing  the  State 
for  purposes  of  local  government.  The  county  and  the  town  or 
city  are  directly  dependent  upon  the  State  government  for  all 
their  rights  and  privileges. 

State  Constitution.  —  Every  State  has  a  written  constitution, 
modeled  after  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  with 
which  it  may  not  conflict.  " 

Departments.  —  The  State  government  consists  of  three  de 
partments  :  the  legislative,  which  makes  the  laws ;  the  execu 
tive,  which  enforces  them ;  and  the  judicial,  which  explains 
and  applies  them. 

State  Legislature.  —  The  Legislature  of  every  State  consists 
of  two  Houses.  The  higher  is  called  the  Senate;  the  lower 
is  variously  called  the  Assembly,  the  General  Assembly,  the 
House,  the  House  of  Representatives,  or  the  House  of  Delegates. 

The  Governor. — The  head  of  the  executive  department  is 
the  governor  of  the  State,  who,  in  all  but  two  States,  has  also 
a  veto  on  legislation.  The  governor  is  commander  in  chief  of 
the  State  militia. 

Courts.  —  In  the  judicial  departments,  the  highest  court  is 
sometimes  called  the  Court  of  Appeals  and  sometimes  the 
Supreme  Court,  beneath  which  are  inferior  courts  of  more  or 


OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT  69 

less  extended  jurisdictions.  The  highest  court  is  chiefly  en 
gaged  in  trying  cases  in  which  appeals  have  been  taken  from  the 
decisions  of  the  lower  courts.  It  has  the  duty  of  interpreting 
the  State  constitution  and  of  deciding  whether  the  laws  passed 
by  the  Legislature  are  or  are  not  constitutional.  (See  note,  p.  57.) 

Miscellaneous  Boards.  —  In  addition  to  these  three  regular 
departments  of  the  State  government,  there  are  usually  various 
commissioners  appointed  by  the  Legislature  or  by  the  gov 
ernor  for  various  purposes,  such  as  the  State  Board  of  Educa 
tion  and  the  State  Board  of  Health,  whose  duties  are  indicated 
by  their  titles. 

77.  Government  of  Territories  and  Colonies.  —  In  addition  to 
its  States,  the  United  States  has  certain  regions  with  carefully 
defined  boundaries,  known  as  the  Territories.  All  of  the  States 
of  the  United  States,  except  the  thirteen  "  Original  States " 
(including  Maine,  Vermont,  Kentucky,  and  West  Virginia) 
and  California  and  Texas,  were  Territories  before  they  became 
States.  A  Territory  is  ruled  by  a  governor  who  is  appointed 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  with  the  consent  of  the 
Senate,  but  it  elects  its  own  Legislature  and  sends  to  Congress 
its  own  delegate,  who  has  the  right  to  serve  upon  committees 
and  to  debate,  but  not  the  right  to  vote.  In  many  respects,  the 
organization  of  Territories  is  very  much  like  that  of  States. 
As  soon  as  a  Territory  has  secured  a  reasonably  large  popula 
tion  and  its  people  have  reached  some  degree  of  culture,  civili 
zation,  and  morality,  the  Territory  upon  its  own  application 
may  be  received  by  Congress  into  the  Union  as  a  State. 

Government  of  Dependencies.  —  In  addition  to  the  Territories 
and  to  the  District  of  Columbia,  which  is  governed  directly 
by  Congress,  there  are  now  several  colonies  belonging  to 
the  United  States.  The  most  important  of  these  are  Porto 
Kico  and  the  Philippine  Islands.  These  are  governed  much 
like  a  Territory,  except  that  one  house  of  the  legislature  con 
sists  of  men  appointed  by  the  President  and  the  Senate.  The 
colonies  stand  in  a  very  different  relation  to  the  Union  from 
that  in  which  the  Territories  stand,  since  they  are  only  to  a 


70 


OUR   CIVIL    GOVERNMENT 


limited  extent  self-governing,  and  their  people  are  not  citizens 
of  the  United  States.1 

78.  National  Government.  —  Over  all  the  States,  Territories, 
and  colonies  is  the  national  government,  which,  like  the  State 
governments,  consists  of  three  branches,  —  legislative,  executive, 
and  judicial. 

Congress.  —  The  Legislature  of  the  United  States  is  composed 
of  two  Houses,  an  upper  House  called  the  Senate,  and  a  lower 
House  called  the  House  of  Representatives.  This  national 
Legislature  is  called  the  Congress,  or  the  meeting  of  the  dele- 


SENATE  AT  WASHINGTON 

gates  from  the  different  States.  The  senators  represent  the 
State  and  the  representatives  the  people.  Congress  makes  the 
laws  subject  to  veto  by  the  President.  This  veto  may  itself 
be  annulled  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  both  houses  of  Congress, 
The  powers  and  duties  of  Congress  are  prescribed  by  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States.  All  powers  and  duties  not  ex 
pressly  given  to  Congress  by  the  Constitution  are  reserved  to  the 
States.  Congress  has,  however,  many  very  important  powers, 

1  For  the  names  of  the  States,  Territories,  and  colonies  of  the  United  States, 
see  pp.  10-13. 


OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT  71 

such  as  providing  for  the  national  defense,  coining  money  and 
fixing  the  standards  of  weights  and  measures,  maintaining  the 
national  mail  service,  borrowing  money,  and  levying  and  col 
lecting  taxes.  The  President  and  the  Senate  together  make 
treaties  with  foreign  nations  and  appoint  office-holders  to 
many  offices.  Most  of  the  national  office  appointments  are 
made  now  in  accordance  with  civil  service  provisions,  requiring 
proof  of  special  fitness  by  competitive  examinations. 

Senators  and  Representatives.  —  Senators  of  the  United  States 
are  elected  by  the  Legislatures  of  the  different  States.1  Each 
State  sends  two  senators.  Each  Territory  sends  a  delegate. 
Members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  are  elected  by  dis 
tricts,  each  State  having  one  or  more  representatives.  At  the 
present  time,  the  average  number  of  constituents  to  each  repre 
sentative  is  a  little  more  than  two  hundred  thousand.  Con 
sequently,  the  State  of  Delaware  sends  one  member  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  while  New  York  sends  forty-three. 
There  are  435  representatives  in  all. 

United  States  Courts.  —  The  courts  of  the  United  States 
include  the  Supreme  Court  and  many  inferior  courts.  These 
courts  deal  with  questions  of  law  arising  between  citizens  of 
the  different  States.  As  with  the  Supreme  Courts  in  the  dif 
ferent  States,  so  with  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
the  most  important  duty  is  to  interpret  the  meaning  of  the 
Constitution.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  is  the 
most  powerful  law  court  in  the  world,  for  it  decides  whether  a 
bill  passed  by  Congress  or  by  any  one  of  the  States  is  or  is  not  in 
accordance  with  the  Constitution ;  and  when  it  is  not  in  accord 
ance  with  the  Constitution,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  will  not  interpret  it  as  a  law.  Therefore,  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  is  the  supreme  governing  body. 
It  has  final  control  in  all  matters  save  that  amendments  to 
the  Constitution  may  be  proposed  by  Congress  or  by  a  conven 
tion  of  delegates  from  all  the  States.  Such  amendments,  when 

1  In  1912  Congress  submitted  to  the  States  for  adoption  an  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  providing  for  the  election  of  senators  by  the  people. 


OUR  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT 


ratified  by  the  Legislatures  or  by  conventions  in  three  fourths  of 
the  States,  become  valid  as  parts  of  the  Constitution.  Judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court  are  appointed  by  the  President,  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate.1  Many  circuit  and 
district  courts  are  also  maintained  by  the  national  government. 
The  President  and  the  Cabinet. — The  President  is  at  the  head 
of  the  executive  or  administrative  branch  of  the  government. 
His  duties  in  this  branch  are  so  much  more  extensive  than  his 
legislative  power  in  vetoing  acts  of  Congress  that  the  Presi 
dent's  term  of  office  is  usually  called  "  an  administration."  For 
convenience,  the  administrative  branch  of  the  national  govern 
ment  is  divided  into  nine  departments  with  a  secretary  at  the 
head  of  each.  The  nine  secretaries  form  the  cabinet  of  the 
President.  Like  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  these  heads 
of  departments  are  all  appointed  by  the  President,  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate.  They  have  no  powers  in 
their  departments  other  than  those  delegated  to  them  by  the 
President.  Their  two  general  duties  are  to  carry  out  his  direc 
tions  in  rela 
tion  to  their 
departments 
and  to  advise 
him  regarding 
the  affairs  of 
their  own  de 
partments  and 
of  the  govern 
ment  as  a 
whole.  The 
nine  depart 
ments  are 

State,    Treasury,   War,   Justice,  Post   Office,   Navy,  Interior, 
Agriculture,  and  Commerce  and  Labor. 

Functions  of  the  Departments.  —  The  State  Department  deals 
with  the  international  affairs  of  the  United  States,  arranges 
1  There  are  now  nine  Supreme  Court  Justices. 


STATE  DEPARTMENT  BUILDING,  WASHINGTON 


OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT  73 

treaties,  and  maintains  diplomatic  relations  with  foreign 
nations.  The  Treasury  deals  with  the  money  affairs,  regulates 
the  national  banks,  and  collects  the  customs  duties  upon  imports. 
The  Department  of  Justice,  presided  over  by  the  Attorney- 
General,  takes  charge  of  the  legal  matters  in  which  the  United 
States  is  concerned.  The  Department  of  the  Interior  has  charge 
of  pensions,  public  lands,  Indian  affairs,  patents,  education,  and 
the  geological  survey.  The  Post  Office  Department  manages  the 
national  mail  service,  which  extends  to  every  city,  town,  and 
hamlet  of  the  land,  and  communicates  with  foreign  countries. 
The  duties  of  the  Departments  of  War,  of  the  Navy,  of  Agri 
culture,  and  of  Commerce  and  Labor  are  those  suggested  by 
their  titles.  These  departments  govern  this  nation  in  many 
other  ways  not  stated  here. 

Taxes.  —  Most  of  the  revenue  of  the  United  States  is  derived 
from  the  taxation  of  merchandise  of  various  kinds.  Taxes  are 
levied  upon  many  kinds  of  goods  imported  at  the  seacoast  cities 
of  the  East  and  West,  and  at  the  land  borders  north  and  south 
of  the  United  States.  Taxes  are  also  levied  upon  beer,  whisky, 
and  tobacco  manufactured  in  the  United  States.  Minor  taxes 
are  raised  by  imposts  and  tariffs  levied  in  various  other  ways. 

Presidential  Election.  —  The  President  of  the  United  States 
is  elected  by  an  Electoral  College  whose  members  are  called 
electors  and  are  chosen  every  four  years.  Each  State  has  as 
many  electors  in  the  Electoral  College  as  it  has  representatives 
and  senators  together.  Thus,  Delaware  had  three  electors  and 
New  York  had  forty -five  at  the  presidential  election  of  1912. 
Electors  are  nominated  by  party  conventions  held  in  the  States 
for  that  purpose.  The  names  of  the  State  electors  of  each  party 
are  printed  on  the  ballot  under  the  name  of  the  party,  and  these 
electors  are  voted  for  by  the  people.  Those  who  receive  the 
greatest  number  of  votes  are  elected,  and  are  expected  to  vote 
in  the  following  January  for  the  candidate  of  the  party  they 
represent. 

79.  The  Nature  of  our  Government.  —  The  United  States  gov 
ernment  is  like  a  board  of  arbitration  to  mai.itain  perpetual 


74  OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT 

peace  between  the  different  States.  For  the  sake  of  this  per 
petual  peace  and  of  free  trade  among  themselves,  the  States 
have  surrendered  to  the  central  government  various  rights  be 
longing  only  to  independent  nations. 

Effect  of  the  Constitution.  —  As  soon  as  the  Revolutionary 
War  began  on  the  part  of  the  thirteen  colonies  of  England,  it 
became  evident  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  thirteen  separate 
nations  to  exist  peaceably  together  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  At  the  beginning  of  that  war,  these  colonies  were  not 
very  friendly  to  one  another,  but  the  English  government  com 
pelled  them  to  remain  at  peace.  After  the  war  was  over,  some 
of  the  States  set  up  tariffs  to  prevent  the  citizens  of  other  States 
from  trading  with  them  freely.  Perfect  peace  and  absolute  free 
trade  between  the  States  were  established  by  the  Constitu 
tion  in  1787.  Though  the  national  government  has  charge  of 
the  general  affairs  of  all  the  millions  of  people  who  live  in  the 
United  States,  the  State,  by  its  laws,  comes  most  closely  to  the 
individual  citizen.  (See  p.  67.) 

80.  The  United  States  in  Comparison  with  Other  Nations. — 
We  have  followed  the  history  of  the  United  States  from  the 
discovery  of  the  New  World  by  Columbus  to  the  present  time, 
in  which  it  has  become  one  of  the  great  world  powers,  and  we 
have  studied  the  government  of  the  United  States,  national, 
State,  county,  and  city.  What  are  the  points  of  resemblance 
and  difference  between  the  United  States  government  and  that 
of  other  nations  of  the  world  ? 

England.  —  In  some  respects  England  is  more  democratic 
than  our  country.  When  the  English  government  is  no  longer 
satisfactory  to  a  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons,  its  head 
officers  must  resign,  and  the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons 
must  appeal  to  their  constituents  for  reelection.  Public  opinion 
governs  even  more  directly  in  England  than  in  the  United 
States. 

France.  —  France  is  a  republic  like  ours  in  form,  but  the 
central  government  of  France  controls  all  the  details  of  govern 
inent  in  every  part  of  France.  This  is  as  though  Congress 


OUR   CIVIL  GOVERNMENT  75 

should  decide  whether  or  not  a  street  should  be  built  in  this 
or  that  city  of  our  country.  France  is  a  much  more  highly 
centralized  nation  than  ours.  There  is  no  subordinate  govern 
ing  institution  in  France  corresponding  with  our  individual 
State. 

Germany.  —  In  Germany  there  are  many  distinct  States,  and 
there  is  also  an  imperial  government;  but  Prussia  in  Germany 
is  stronger  than  all  the  rest  of  the  States  together,  and  it  is 
Prussia  that  really  rules  Germany.  This  is  as  though  New 
York  State  should  control  the  government  of  the  United  States. 
The  President  of  our  nation  has  almost  as  much  authority  as 
has  the  hereditary  German  Kaiser ;  but  the  President  of  the 
United  States  is  elected  and  holds  office  for  only  four  years  at 
a  time.  In  the  entire  history  of  the  country  no  President  has 
served  more  than  eight  years.  Our  President  is  an  American 
citizen,  raised  to  his  office  by  the  choice  of  his  equals.  France 
has  a  President  who  holds  his  position  upon  much  the  same 
conditions. 

Foreign  City  Governments.  —  Our  city  governments  corre 
spond  more  closely  with  the  city  governments  of  Europe  than 
does  our  national  government  with  theirs.  This  similarity  is 
especially  noticeable  in  the  case  of  English  and  German  cities. 
But,  in  general,  the  cities  of  England  and  Germany  undertake 
more  for  their  citizens  than  do  the  American  cities.  Many  of 
these  foreign  cities  not  only  maintain  parks,  schools,  libraries, 
streets,  water  service,  police  service,  and  fire  houses  for  their 
citizens,  but  also  build  houses  for  them  and  provide  many  other 
things.  All  together,  the  conditions  of  life  in  America  make 
the  American  citizen  more  free  and  independent  than  in  any 
other  land.  Self-government  and  self-support  by  individual 
effort,  without  direct  or  indirect  dependence  upon  others,  are 
the  standards  of  American  life. 

81.  Democracy  and  Freedom.  —  A  citizen  of  the  United  States 
is  a  voter  in  his  town  or  his  municipality,  in  his  county,  in  his 
State,  and  in  the  nation.  Often  he  is  a  voter  in  a  school  dis 
trict  separate  from,  his  municipality.  He  is  partly  a  subject 

HIST.    EV.    SCH.  —  5 


7C  OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT 

and  partly  a  ruler  in  four  or  five  governments,  one  within 
another.  The  essential  feature  of  the  American  system  of 
government  is  that  the  citizen  governs  himself  either  directly 
or  through  a  representative  in  whose  election  he  has  a  part. 
The  control  of  government  is  secured  either  by  a  majority  or  a 
plurality  of  votes.  A  majority  of  votes  means  more  than  one 
half,  and  a  plurality  of  votes  means  more  than  any  other 
party  or  person  has  received. 

Meaning  of  " Republic"  and  "Democracy" — We  call  our 
country  the  land  of  representative  democracy  or  of  republi 
canism.  In  a  pure  democracy  the  majority  of  the  voters  rule 
directly.  Such  a  democracy  is  that  of  a  town  meeting.  In  a 
representative  democracy  the  people  select  those  who  shall 
rule  them  by  voting  for  them  indirectly  through  representa 
tives.  A  republic  is  a  land  in  which  the  people  rule  either 
by  pure  democracy  or  by  representative  democracy.  In  such 
a  country  no  man  may  inherit  any  office  of  government.  In 
government  and  in  religion,  by  far  the  most  important  con 
cerns  of  mankind,  every  American  is  equal  to  every  other  in 
rights  and  opportunities.  This  means  that  before  the  law  one 
man  is  as  good  as  another  until  he  has  been  convicted  of  being 
evil.  It  means  that  no  private  citizen  can  dictate  to  another, 
and  even  the  rulers  can  rule  only  as  long  as  the  people  main 
tain  them  in  office ;  and  they  rule  then  only  in  respect  to  those 
matters  concerning  which  the  law  directs  them  to  rule.  In  all 
these  respects  America  is  the  most  fortunate  country  in  the 
world. 

82.  Duties  of  Public  Officers.  —  When  a  man  is  installed  in 
office,  he  takes  charge  of  the  duties  of  that  office.  In  cities,  the 
voters  deal  with  matters  of  local  affairs ;  in  counties  and  States, 
with  matters  of  State  law;  and  in  a  nation,  with  matters  of 
national  law.  A  city  alderman  or  a  councilman  votes  regarding 
ordinances  and  resolutions  to  govern  the  city.  The  treasurer 
takes  charge  of  the  public  funds.  The  commissioners  of  charity 
take  charge  of  the  poor.  The  police  board  selects  and  manages 
the  policemen.  The  board  of  education  selects  the  superin- 


OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT  77 

tendent  of  schools  and  establishes  rules  for  the  government  of 
the  schools.1  The  mayor  is  head  of  the  general  city  govern 
ment,  and  sees  to  the  general  enforcement  of  all  legislation. 
The  duties  of  various  departments  of  government  in  great 
cities  are  so  numerous  that  it  would  take  several  pages  merely 
to  make  a  list  of  them.  The  private  citizen  comes  in  contact 
more  frequently  with  the  men  who  hold  municipal  than  with 
those  who  hold  county  and  State  offices.  His  relation  to  them 
is  that  of  a  voter  for  or  against  them,  but  he  is  also  a  subject, 
and  must  obey  their  laws  while  they  are  in  office. 

83.  America,  the  Land  of  Opportunity.  —  Behind  the  American 
citizen  is  a  glorious  history  of  national  independence  won  and 
maintained  by  force  of  arms.  Personal  independence  has  been 
secured  through  centuries  of  lawmaking  that  have  resulted 
finally  in  the  plan  and  purpose  of  giving  equal  freedom,  equal 
rights,  and  equal  opportunities  to  every  man.  When  this  New 
World  was  first  settled,  the  people  were  divided  into  classes 
and  even  into  castes.  Gentlemen's  sons  inherited  rights  that 
were  denied  to  the  sons  of  laborers.  As  the  result  of  these 
centuries  of  political  contention  and  improvement,  America 
has  come  to  be  truly  the  land  of  opportunity.  A  law-abiding 
citizen  who  takes  advantage  of  the  opportunities  of  education, 
of  the  free  ballot,  and  of  the  right  to  hold  land  or  to  buy  and 
sell  it,  has  before  him  the  certainty  of  possessing  those  three 
unalienable  rights,  —  "life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happi 
ness,"  which  belong  to  all  men,  according  to  the  immortal  Decla 
ration  of  Independence,  but  which  were  never  hitherto  realized 
in  history.  He  lives  in  a  land  with  many  scenes  of  the  greatest 
natural  beauty,  inviting  him  to  keep  his  mind  open  to  travel. 
By  governing  himself,  he  helps  to  govern  the  whole  nation,  for 
always  by  the  ballot  and  sometimes  by  holding  office  he  has 
a  part  in  directing  public  affairs.  He  finds  true  personal  lib 
erty  in  obedience  to  laws  and  law  enforcement,  controlled  by  a 

1  One  of  the  original  and  interesting  features  of  American  government  is 
the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  free  public  education,  which  exists  in 
no  other  land  of  the  world. 


78 


OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT 


majority  of  his  political  equals.  By  reading  books  and  news 
papers  all  through  life,  by  taking  advantage  in  youth  of  the 
opportunities  of  systematic  education,  and  by  attending  public 
lectures  and  great  political  meetings,  in  adult  life,  the  American 
citizen  becomes  as  intelligent  and  competent  in  public  affairs  as 
he  is  typically  the  best  workman  or  business  man  of  the  world. 
84.  Education  and  the  General  Welfare. — The  object  of  all 
government  is  to  care  for  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  its 
people.  The  government  of  the  United  States  not  only  sees 
to  it  that  citizens  are  able  to  enjoy  their  rights  without  inter 
ference,  but  also  provides  for  the  improvement  of  its  citizens 
through  education.  In  a  republic  such  as  ours,  where  each 
must  take  his  part  in  governing  the  nation,  whether  it  be  by 

voting  or  by  hold 
ing  office,  the  na 
tional  welfare  is 
entirely  dependent 
on  the  intelligence 
of  the  people. 
Therefore,  the  edu 
cation  of  the  people 
is  a  necessary  duty 
of  government. 

Public  Schools. 
—  Realizing  the 
importance  of  edu 
cating  each  citizen, 
every  State  has 
established  a  system  of  public  schools.  These  schools  are 
entirely  free  to  all  children  without  regard  to  race,  color,  or 
religion.  More  than  this,  in  many  States  laws  have  been 
passed  compelling  all  children  between  certain  ages  to  attend 
the  public  schools.  When  such  children  do  not  go  to  school, 
the  parents  are  held  responsible.  The  parents  may  be  arrested, 
brought  before  a  magistrate,  and  punished  for  neglecting  to  do 
their  duty  in  this  matter. 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL,  NEW  YORK  CITY 


OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT  79 

School  Funds.  —  The  expense  of  carrying  on  the  public 
schools  is  met  largely  by  taxation.  Every  citizen  is  taxed 
according  to  the  amount  of  property  he  owns.  Some  citizens 
pay  much  more  than  others  for  the  education  of  their  children. 
Indeed,  it  often  happens  that  a  man  is  taxed  large  sums  of 
money  for  education  when  he  has  no  children  at  all.  But  this 
makes  no  difference,  as  the  object  is  the  education  of  all  for 
the  general  welfare.  The  citizens  do  not  often  meet  the  whole 
expense  of  the  public  schools,  however.  Nearly  every  State 
has  a  school  fund,  which  is  derived  from  a  certain  part  of 
public  lands  reserved  for  that  purpose.  The  money  from  this 
fund  is  divided  among  the  school  districts  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  school  children  in  each.  The  remaining  expense  is 
met  by  the  taxation  of  the  people. 

State  Superintendent  of  Schools.  —  In  many  States  there  is 
an  officer  known  as  the  State  Superintendent  of  Schools.  It 
is  his  duty  to  exercise  general  supervision  over  the  schools  of 
the  State  and  to  suggest  improvements  to  the  State  Legisla 
ture.  There  are  officers  in  each  county  who  aid  him  in  his 
work. 

Board  of  Education.  —  Each  school  district  is  in  charge  of  a 
Board  of  Education,  the  members  of  which  are  elected  by  the 
voters  of  the  district.  Boards  of  Education  have  power  to 
employ  teachers,  build  schoolhouses,  and  buy  text-books  and 
supplies. 

Importance  of  Public  Schools. — Every  American  citizen  should 
be  ready  to  do  as  much  as  he  can  for  the  public  schools,  for  it 
is  through  the  schools  alone  that  the  coming  generation  may 
be  prepared  to  govern  the  country  properly. 

85.  Party  Organization.  —  In  every  republican  form  of  gov 
ernment,  political  parties  are  a  necessity.  They  present  the 
different  sides  of  all  public  questions  to  the  voters,  so  that 
intelligent  decisions  may  be  made  on  public  matters. 

Functions  of  Parties.  —  Parties  educate  and  crystallize  public 
opinion,  select  and  nominate  persons  for  public  office,  and  carry 
on  political  campaigns.  They  arouse  as  much  enthusiasm  as 


80  OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT 

they  can  for  their  candidates  at  the  time  of  election,  and  get 
out  as  large  a  vote  as  possible. 

Methods.  —  For  the  purpose  of  arousing  enthusiasm,  the 
newspapers,  pamphlets,  stump  speeches,  torchlight  parades, 
political  clubs,  and  fireworks  have  their  uses.  Before  every 
election,  the  newspapers  are  full  of  news  concerning  party 
candidates  and  party  policies.  Just  before  election,  parties 
frequently  distribute  pamphlets  that  furnish  the  public  with 
information  regarding  their  plans  and  candidates,  and  some 
times  regarding  the  shortcomings  of  their  opponents.  Through 
stump  speeches,  the  candidates  make  themselves  personally 
known  to  large  numbers  of  voters.  Before  an  election  every 
citizen  is  canvassed  with  a  view  to  obtaining  his  vote  for  the 
candidates  favored.  On  election  day  the  party  provides  car 
riages  to  bring  to  the  polls  those  who  otherwise  either  could 
not  or  would  not  walk  to  the  voting  place. 

Party  Machinery. — Every  party  has  a  "machine."  This  is 
made  up  of  men  who  are  agreed  as  to  what  the  party  policy 
should  be.  They  unite  for  the  sake  of  the  strength  such 
union  gives  them.  Each  member  of  the  "  machine  "  holds  his 
position  because  of  the  political  influence  he  has  among  the 
voters  of  the  party.  The  leader  of  the  "  machine  "  is  called  the 
"boss."  The  "boss"  is  usually  a  man  of  very  great  power  in 
political  matters.  The  "machine"  is  always  at  work  among 
the  voters,  whether  it  is  election  time  or  not. 

Party  Nominations.  —  Sometimes  the  nomination  for  public 
office  takes  place  in  the  party  convention  which  is  composed 
of  delegates  appointed  for  the  purpose.  In  many  of  the  States, 
however,  the  party  nominations  are  usually  made  through  pri 
maries.  The  primary  is  an  election  made  by  the  voters  of 
the  party  before  and  preliminary  to  the  regular  election.  At 
the  primary,  the  voters  of  the  party  nominate  candidates  to 
represent  them  at  the  regular  election.  The  party  sees  to  it 
that  no  one  who  is  not  a  member  of  the  party  takes  a  part 
in  its  primaries.  To  prevent  this,  it  keeps  a  list  of  all  voters 
who  belong  to  it.  When  one  party  is  decidedly  larger  than 


OUR   CIVIL  GOVERNMENT  81 

the  other,  the  nomination  by  that  party  at  the  primary  or  at 
the  convention  is  practically  equivalent  to  election.  In  order 
to  become  President  of  the  United  States,  it  is  first  necessary 
for  a  man  to  secure  the  nomination  of  one  of  the  great  political 
parties.  Next,  he  must  have  a  majority  of  enough  States,  so 
that  his  electors  may  elect  him  in  the  Electoral  College. 

Party  Conventions. — A  city  convention  made  up  of  delegates 
from  the  various  wards  takes  charge  of  the  municipal  affairs 
of  the  party ;  a  county  convention  made  up  of  delegates  from 
the  various  towns  and  cities  takes  charge  of  county  affairs ;  a 
State  convention  made  up  of  delegates  from  the  various  coun 
ties  takes  charge  of  State  affairs,  and  a  national  convention 
made  up  of  delegates  from  the  various  States  takes  charge  of 
national  affairs. 

Party  Platform.  —  The  declaration  of  party  principles  adopted 
by  a  convention  is  called  a  platform,  and  each  principle  enun 
ciated  is  called  a  plank. 

86.  Party  History.  —  America's  political  parties  are  not,  like 
its  government,  copies  of  Old  World  institutions,  but  are  the 
peculiar  product  of  our  peculiar  conditions.  With  us,  a  party 
is  not  a  mere  faction  of  the  people,  but  rather  a  great  system 
atic  organization,  with  both  a  policy  and  a  history.  The  great 
national  parties  have  grown  up  by  slow  processes.  The  first 
parties  were  the  Federalists  and  the  Anti-Federalists.  The 
former  believed  in  a  strong  national  government,  so  that  the 
United  States  might  maintain  a  dignified  place  among  the  na 
tions  of  the  world.  The  Anti-Federalists  wished  to  see  the 
State  governments  strong,  so  that  individual  citizens  might  be 
protected  from  oppression  by  the  national  government.  In 
the  course  of  time,  these  parties  disappeared,  while  others  took 
their  places.  Among  these  were  the  Whigs,  who  favored  a 
protective  tariff,  and  the  Free-soilers,  who  were  opposed  to  the 
extension  of  slavery. 

Present  Parties.  —  At  the  present  time  there  are  two  great 
political  parties  in  the  United  States,  while  there  are  several 
others  of  minor  importance,  such  as  the  Populists,  the  Socialists, 


82  OUR   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT 

and  the  Prohibitionists.  The  two  great  parties  are  the  Repub 
lican  and  the  Democratic.  The  Republicans  have  usually 
favored  a  high  protective  tariff  for  the  encouragement  of  home 
industries,  while  the  Democrats  have  been  in  favor  of  a  low 
tariff,  so  that  prices  of  goods  to  consumers  should  be  low.  In 
recent  years  the  Republicans  have  favored  the  single  gold 
standard  of  money,  while  the  Democrats  for  a  time  were  in 
favor  of  the  double  standard,  gold  and  silver.  The  positions 
of  the  two  great  parties  upon  other  questions  now  before  the 
American  people  are  not  very  sharply  defined. 

Growth  and  Decline  of  Parties.  —  When  a  party  has  once 
taken  a  definite  stand  before  the  people  in  regard  to  certain 
policies,  it  will  support  its  candidates  only  so  long  as  they 
maintain  their  pledges  to  carry  out  its  policies.  Thus,  such 
a  party  is  responsible  for  its  candidates.  A  weak  and  unwise 
party  disappears,  as  also  does  one  that  has  accomplished  its 
mission ;  and  new  parties  come  forward,  stronger  and  wiser. 
It  is  possible  in  the  course  of  time  that  a  small  party  may 
become  great,  or  that  some  new  party  not  yet  thought  of  may 
get  a  majority  of  the  electors  and  may  at  some  future  time 
elect  a  President. 

New  Issues.  —  Among  the  new  great  questions  are  the  fol 
lowing:  whether  the  nation  shall  adopt  or  maintain  the  policy 
of  imperialism,  by  governing  colonies  of  subject  races  remote 
from  the  United  States ;  and  whether  the  government  shall 
own,  or  at  least  control,  such  great  industries  as  coal  mining, 
railroading,  and  telegraphing. 


PART  IV 


OUR   BUSINESS   AFFAIRS 

87.  Inventions.  —  The  progress  of  the  United  States  in 
population  and  territory  has  been  accompanied  by  equal  prog 
ress  in  material  wealth.  We  have  four  times  the  area  that 
we  had  in  1800  and  fifteen  times  the  population,  while  our 
general  wealth  has  increased  from  a  billion  to  almost  a  hundred 
billion  dollars.  This  vast  increase  in  wealth  has  been  due  in 
part  to  increase  in  land  area  and  in  the  numbers  of  agricultural, 
industrial,  and  commercial  workers.  It  has  been  largely  due 
also  to  scientific  discoveries  and  mechanical  inventions. 

TJie  Cotton  Gin.  —  Among  the  most  important  of  these  in 
ventions  was  the  cotton  gin,  which  came  into  use  in  1793.  The 
cotton  gin  enabled  man 
to  accomplish  by  ma 
chinery  work  that  had 
before  been  done  by 
hand  methods,  and  led 
to  a  number  of  other 
important  inventions  in 
the  manufacture  of 
cotton.  These  cotton 
inventions,  together 
with  the  immense  in 
crease  in  the  number 
of  slaves  and  the  almost  unlimited  market  in  Europe  for 
cotton,  brought  great  wealth  to  the  South.  Since  the  War  of 
Secession,  progress  in  cotton  raising  and  in  manufacture  has 
been  very  great. 

Steamships  and  Railways.-*— \T\  1807  the  first  successful  steam 
ship  was  built.  The  application  of  steam  to  water  travel  led 


COTTON  GIN 


84 


OUE  BUSINESS  AFFAIRS 


EARLY  LOCOMOTIVE 


to  a  vast  increase  of  transportation  by  water  along  the  inland 
lakes  and  rivers.  In  1819  a  steamship  crossed  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  In  1830  the  steam  locomotive  and  the  iron 
railway  came  into  practical  use  in  this  country.  The 
new  railway  led  to  even  greater  economic  changes  than 

the  steamship,  which  had  to 
follow  fixed  waterways,  while 
the  lines  of  the  steam  loco 
motive  could  go  north,  east, 
south,  arid  west,  almost  at  the 
pleasure  of  man.  Before  1860 
railways  were  to  be  found  in 
all  parts  of  the  United  States 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  during  the  Civil  War  a  railway 
was  carried  west  from  the  Mississippi  toward  the  Pacific  Coast. 
The  Telegraph. — Before  the  railway  and  the  steamship  had 
reached  the  degree  of  perfection  that  made  them  commercially 
practicable,  the  telegraph  was  invented.  Which  of  the  three, 
the  steam  locomotive,  the  steamship,  or  the  electric  telegraph, 
has  been  the  most  important  agent  in  the  economic  and  political 
transformation  of  this  country,  it  would  be  very  hard  to  say. 
Taken  together,  they  have  almost  annihilated  time  and  space. 
By  telegraph,  Boston  may  communicate  with  San  Francisco 
within  the  briefest  time;  by  steamship,  one  may  go  from 
New  York  to  Liverpool  in  less  than  six  days ;  and  by  rail, 
Boston  and  Philadelphia,  cities  that  one  hundred  years  ago 
were  more  than  a  week  apart  by  steady  stage  coaching,  are  now 
within  seven  hours  of  travel,  while  New  York  and  Chicago 
are  less  than  one  day  apart. 

TJie  Telephone.  —  Wonderful  as  these  inventions  have  been 
in  some  respects,  that  of  the  telephone,  which  came  into  use 
in  1876,  is  still  more  remarkable.  It  enables  men  to  talk  to 
one  another  though  they  may  be  five  hundred  miles  apart. 
These  means  of  rapid  intercommunication,  man  with  man, 
supplemented  as  they  have  been  by  the  inventions  of  swift 
printing  presses  and  of  photography,  and  by  the  development 


OUR  BUSINESS  AFFAIRS  85 

of  the  government  mail  service,  have  made  it  possible  to  or 
ganize  business  combinations  of  a  size  hitherto  not  dreamed  of. 

88.  Business  Associations.  —  Within  the  past  ten  years  single 
corporations  have  grown  until  their  capital  stock  and  bonds 
have  reached  not  merely  fifty  or  one  hundred  million  dollars, 
vast  as  such  sums  seem,  but  even  half  a  billion,  a  full  billion, 
and  in  one  instance  a  billion  and  a  half  of  dollars.     This  repre 
sents  more  than  the  total  wealth  of  the  United  States  in  1800. 
The  human  mind  can  scarcely  realize  such  sums.1 

Labor  Unions.  —  While  this  movement  has  been  going  on 
upon  the  side  of  capital  invested  in  business,  an  equally  im 
portant  movement  has  taken  place  among  the  laborers,  who 
have  combined  in  unions  to  protect  themselves  against  small 
corporations,  while  the  unions  have  combined  in  amalgamations 
to  protect  themselves  against  the  great  corporations. 

Strife  between  Labor  and  Capital.  —  The  last  few  years  of 
American  economic  history  have  witnessed  many  struggles  be 
tween  the  capitalists  on  one  side  and  the  laborers  on  the  other. 
The  Constitution  guarantees  to  protect  all  forms  of  private 
property.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  an  essential  principle  of 
American  democracy  that  the  citizens  are  equal  in  rights  and 
opportunities.  The  struggle  between  capital  and  labor  is  one 
of  the  most  important  movements  in  American  history. 

89.  The   Protective   Tariff.  —  The  amazing   development   of 
manufactures  in  the  United  States  has  taken  place  partly  be 
cause  of  the  fostering  care  of  our  tariff  system.     Since  the 
United  States  government  must  have  money  for  its  annual  ex 
penditures,  it  is  necessary  and  advisable  to  impose  taxes  upon 
imported  goods.     By  making  these  taxes  heavy  upon  classes  of 
goods  manufactured  at  less  cost  in  the  Old  World  than  in  the 
United  States,  their  prices  to  the  American  consumers  are  in 
creased.     For  these  increased  prices  American  manufacturers 
can  afford  to  produce  them ;  hence,  the  tariff  has  stimulated 

1  It  is  profitable  to  discuss  in  class  by  illustrations  the  meaning  of  a  thou 
sand  dollars'  worth  of  property,  ten  thousand  dollars'  worth,  and  so  on  up  to 
millions.  Newspaper  financial  reports  furnish  valuable  material. 


86  OUR  BUSINESS  AFFAIRS 

the  manufacture  of  various  kinds  of  goods  that  would  not 
otherwise  have  been  produced  in  this  country.  The  protective 
tariff  has  had  bitter  opposition,  and  free  traders  have  claimed 
that  more  harm  than  good  has  resulted  from  it,  because  of  the 
increased  prices  to  consumers.  This  discussion  has  been  one  of 
the  most  important  in  American  politics  for  two  generations. 

90.  The  Principles  of  Business.  —  Some  knowledge  of  the 
natural  laws  of  business  is  essential  to  a  fair  understanding 
of  the  great  questions  now  before  our  people.  These  great 
questions  are  whether  or  not  the  organization  of  monopolistic 
combinations  of  labor  should  be  restrained  by  national  law, 
and  whether  or  not  such  properties  as  coal  mines,  railroads, 
and  telegraph  lines  should  be  owned  by  the  State  or  the 
national  governments.  Other  great  questions  similar  to  these 
have  been  solved  by  men  who  have  known  the  history  of  nations 
and  have  understood  the  science,  commonly  called  economics, 
dealing  with  the  laws  of  business. 

The  Nature  of  Business.  —  Not  every  activity  that  men  en 
gage  in  constitutes  business.  Play,  which  is  physical  activity 
for  its  own  sake,  is  not  business ;  nor  is  that  hard  and  contin 
uous  form  of  effort  known  as  domestic  service  business.  Not 
everything  that  involves  the  handling  of  money  is  business 
to  all  parties  concerned,  for  charity  is  not  business;  and  yet 
charity  costs  private  persons  and  whole  communities  great 
sums  of  money.  Business  consists  in  the  production  and  dis 
tribution  of  commodities  that  minister  to  human  welfare.  It 
involves  the  buying  and  selling  of  products  or  of  services. 
There  are  always  two  parties  to  a  business  transaction,  both 
of  whom  wish  to  gain  something.  Business  involves  exchange 
of  services  or  articles  of  value.  The  business  world  is  com 
posed  of  business  men  and  of  workmen  of  many  classes.  A 
business  man  may  be  a  contractor,  a  tradesman,  a  manufac 
turer,  a  merchant,  or  a  banker.  The  business  man  is  at  the 
head  of  a  business  enterprise.  He  furnishes  the  capital  that 
provides  employment  for  labor,  and  his  purpose  in  engaging 
in  the  enterprise  is  to  make  a  profit  by  which  he  can  maintain 


OUR  BUSINESS  AFFAIRS  87 

himself  and  liis  family  and  increase  his  property.  The  work 
men  include  clerks,  mechanics,  artisans,  general  employees, 
and  unskilled  laborers. 

Corporations. — In  modern  business,  the  great  corporations 
are  taking  the  place  of  individual  business  men  and  of  firms 
of  business  men  in  the  management  of  enterprises,  so  that  the 
head  employees  of  corporations,  though  they  are  paid  salaries 
like  workmen,  are  really  business  men ;  that  is,  managers  of 
business.  While  the  business  men  work  for  the  sake  of  prof 
its,  the  workmen  labor  to  receive  salaries  and  wages.  Some 
of  the  important  men  employed  in  the  management  of  great 
corporations  receive  very  large  salaries.  The  managers  and 
presidents  of  great  life  insurance  companies  and  railroads  re 
ceive  from  $20,000  to  $100,000  a  year.  The  salaries  aiid 
wages  paid  to  men  engaged  in  the  more  common  employments 
are  familiar  to  us  all.  The  compensations  of  men  range  from 
$8  a  week  up,  while  the  compensations  of  women,  and  of  boys 
and  girls  over  fifteen  years  of  age  range  from  f  3  a  week  up. 

Sources  of  Profit.  —  One  who  understands  the  laws  of  busi 
ness  knows  why  some  men  make  such  great  profits  from 
business  that  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  they  may  accumu 
late  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  property,  while 
good  workmen  receive  from  $15  to  $40  a  week  as  wages.  A 
manufacturing  company  engages  in  business  for  the  sake  of 
making  a  profit  from  the  sale  of  its  products.  In  order  to 
make  the  products,  it  is  necessary  for  the  company  to  have 
land,  buildings,  machinery,  materials,  and  working  people. 
It  is  necessary  also  for  the  company  to  bear  its  share  of  the 
general  expenses  of  the  government.  After  all  these  expen 
ditures  are  paid  for,  the  surplus  remaining  from  the  sale  of 
products  is  the  profit.  Therefore,  in  order  to  understand  how 
a  profit  is  realized  from  business,  it  is  first  necessary  to  under 
stand  what  the  expenses  of  business  are. 

Land  and  Rent.  —  The  first  expense  in  any  business  is  that 
of  renting  or  purchasing  land.  When  a  manufacturer  has  only 
a  small  capital,  he  usually  prefers  to  rent  the  land  on  which 


88  OUR  BUSINESS  AFFAIRS 

his  buildings  are  to  stand.  The  owner  of  the  land  usually 
makes  a  lease  with  the  manufacturer  for  a  term  of  years,  with 
a  provision  for  a  renewal  of  the  lease  for  an  additional  term 
of  years,  so  that  the  manufacturer  will  not  lose  the  value  of 
the  building  that  he  erects. 

Variations  in  Price  of  Land.  —  The  annual  rent  depends 
entirely  upon  the  quality  of  the  land  or  on  its  accessibility  to 
the  market.  Since  the  owner  of  land  has  by  law  the  right  to 
exclude  all  others  from  using  it,  he  can  compel  any  one  who 
wishes  to  use  it  to  pay  him  for  the  privilege  of  so  doing ;  but 
influences  outside  of  his  personal  feelings  determine  how  much 
the  tenant  will  pay,  for  no  tenant  will  pay  more  for  a  piece 
of  land  than  he  would  have  to  pay  for  equally  desirable  land 
elsewhere.  Consequently,  the  rents  of  various  pieces  of  land 
vary.  Inaccessible  and  inconvenient  locations  are  worth  noth 
ing  to  manufacturers  and  merchants,  while  those  very  near  and 
convenient  to  the  market  are  worth  great  sums  of  money  annu 
ally.  A  manufacturer  can  afford  to  pay  more  for  land  imme 
diately  upon  a  railroad  track  than  he  can  for  land  far  away 
from  a  railroad,  since  with  a  factory  upon  land  near  the  track 
he  saves  the  cost  of  transporting  his  products  by  team  to  the 
railroad. 

Relation  of  Rent  to  Interest.  —  When  the  manufacturer  pre 
fers  to  buy  the  land  outright,  the  price  depends  upon  what  the 
rent  would  be  if  the  land  were  rented  annually.  Where  bor 
rowed  money  costs  five  per  cent  annually  and  where  taxes  on 
real  estate  are  about  one  per  cent  on  the  value  of  the  land, 
that  value  is  about  sixteen  times  the  annual  rent.  Where 
money  is  dearer  annually,  land  is  cheaper  to  buy ;  and  where 
money  is  cheaper,  land  is  dearer.  This  is  a  complicated 
problem  in  arithmetic  which  manufacturers  have  to  work 
out  practically. 

Capital  and  Interest.  —  The  second  expense  that  the  manu 
facturer  must  meet  is  that  of  money  borrowed  as  capital.  If  he 
uses  his  own  capital  in  the  business,  it  must  nevertheless  be 
considered  as  an  expense,  since  his  capital  would  have  yielded 


OUR  BUSINESS  AFFAIRS  89 

him  money  if  he  had  lent  it  to  another.  He  will  use  this  capi 
tal  to  put  up  his  buildings,  and  to  buy  machinery  and  materials 
for  manufacturing.  He  needs  also  some  cash  capital  to  handle 
his  products  on  the  market.1  Where  the  total  amount  of  money 
which  is  in  the  market  to  lend  is  large,  and  where  the  loan  pro 
posed  is  very  safe,  there  the  annual  interest,  or  price  for  the  use 
of  money,  is  small.  On  the  other  hand,  where  the  amount  of 
money  available  for  lending  is  small  and  where  the  risks  of  the 
loans  are  great,  money  is  very  dear.  In  the  United  States, 
within  the  past  twenty-five  years,  money  has  been  lent  to  manu 
facturers  for  business  uses  at  interest  rates  varying  from  four 
and  five  per  cent  to  twelve  and  even  greater  per  cents. 

Insurance  for  Money  Jtisks.  —  If  money  lenders  were  paid  the 
same  rates  of  interest  for  loans  where  the  risk  of  getting  their 
capital  back  is  great,  as  where  the  risk  is  small,  one  or  the  other 
of  two  things  would  happen:  either  the  money  lenders  would  be 
unwilling  to  lend  their  capital,  or  all  accumulated  wealth  would 
be  borrowed  by  so  many  unsuccessful  enterprises  that  it  would 
gradually  disappear.  The  excess  of  interest  paid  by  those 
who  borrow  for  risky  ventures  over  the  interest  that  is  paid 
by  those  who  borrow  for  steady-going  enterprises,  is  in  the 
nature  of  an  insurance  fund  out  of  which  losses  of  capital  are 
paid. 

Laws  concerning  Interest.  —  In  interest  for  the  use  of  money, 
the  law  of  the  State  interferes  as  in  the  case  of  rent  for  the  use 
of  land.  Just  as  the  law  guarantees  to  the  owner  of  the  title  to 
landed  property  the  right  of  excluding  all  others  from  the  prop 
erty  and  enables  a  landlord  to  take  his  tenant's  personal  prop 
erty,  when  rent  due  is  not  paid,  so  the  law  of  the  State  enables 
a  lender  of  money  to  collect  from  the  property,  real  or  personal, 
of  a  borrower,  the  capital  sum  borrowed,  together  with  interest 
at  the  legal  rate  or  as  agreed,  subject  to  the  conditions  set  by 
the  law. 

1  Most  merchandise  is  sold  upon  a  time  credit  of  thirty,  sixty,  or  ninety 
days.  The  seller  gives  up  possession  of  his  goods  a  considerable  time  before 
he  receives  cash  in  payment  for  them. 


90  OUR  BUSINESS  AFFAIRS 

Labor  and  Wages.  —  The  third  expense  of  the  manufacturer 
is  that  for  labor  employed  in  his  business.  This  expense  con 
sists  of  salaries,  wages,  and  pay  for  piecework.  The  landlord 
owns  land  and  can  exclude  others  from  it ;  the  capitalist  owns 
money  and  can  keep  others  from  taking  it ;  and  every  man  in 
the  United  States  has  the  right  to  his  own  labor.  And  as  the 
capitalist  or  the  landlord  who  will  not  use  or  let  others  use  his 
capital  or  his  land  can  get  110  income  from  it,  so  the  working- 
man,  who  has  neither  land  nor  capital,  and  who  will  not  work, 
can  get  no  income  day  by  day.  The  times  have  been  when 
land  yielded  no  rent,  when  money  brought  no  interest,  and 
when  most  men  were  slaves  and  had  to  work  without  wages 
for  masters  whether  they  wished  to  do  so  or  not ;  but,  in  those 
times,  even  the  greatest  nations  were  very  poor  in  comparison 
with  so  rich  a  nation  of  free  and  equal  men  as  the  United 
States. 

Laws  governing  Wages. — Natural  laws  of  business  tend  to 
govern  the  wages  paid  to  labor.  Some  of  these  laws  are  diffi 
cult  to  understand.  The  simplest  and  most  important  ones 
are  the  following: 

1.  When  the  demand  for  workmen  is  great  and  the  supply 
of  workmen  is  relatively  small,  wages  are  high ;  and  when  the 
demand  is  small  and  the  supply  is  relatively  large,  wages  are 
low.     In  "good  times"  wages  rise;  in  "hard  times"  they  fall. 

2.  Men  will  not  work  for  wages  lower  than  the  amount  they 
regard  as  necessary  to  support  a  decent  mode  of  life.     When 
offered  less  than  such  an  amount  they  refuse  to  accept  the 
work,  and  do  something  else  instead.     They  engage  in  business 
for  themselves,  or  take  to  farming,  or  go  to  other  places  where 
labor  is  better  paid.     Sometimes  they  live  without  work  for 
long  periods,  and  are  then  forced  by  necessity  to  try  to  live  on 
less  wages  than  they  were  willing  to  accept  before. 

3.  Men   without    ability   to  do  various  kinds  of  labor  are 
apt  to  get  lower  wages  than  those  whose  ability  enables  them 
to  do  now  one  thing,  now  another ;  because  when  dissatisfied 
they  have  not  the  power  to  turn  to  some  other  kind  of  work. 


OUR  BUSINESS  AFFAIRS  91 

Employers  try  to  keep  wages  from  rising,  and  employees  try  to 
make  them  rise.  There  is  a  steady  push  and  pull  in  which 
poor  men,  or  those  poorly  educated,  are  at  a  disadvantage. 

4.  Men  working  at  tasks  requiring  unusual  ability  or  long 
preparation   receive   higher  wages  than   those  who  do  work 
requiring  less  ability  and  less  preparation.     This  is  because 
the  supply  of  able  men,  well  prepared  for  difficult  work,  is 
small  while  the  demand  is  great ;  and  because,  as  the  hire  of 
land  well  located  is  high,  so  the  hire  of  men  well  educated  is 
high.     The  landlord  gets  high  rents  for  his  desirable  land,  and 
the  laborer  gets  high  wages  for  his  desirable  labor. 

5.  In  occupations  requiring  skill,  the  men  often  unite  in 
unions  and  agree  upon  a  minimum  price  for  their  labor.     This 
uniting  tends  to  raise  wages  but  to  decrease  both  the  demand 
for  and  the  supply  of  a  particular  kind  of  skilled  labor. 

Materials  and  Price.  —  The  next  expense  of  the  manufacturer 
is  for  the  materials  that  he  uses  in  his  factory.  Their  cost  to 
him  depends  upon  their  price,  and  their  price  depends  upon  the 
supply  of  and  the  demand  for  such  materials  in  the  general 
market.  Price  measures  value  in  money.  The  value  of  goods 
depends  partly  upon  the  cost  of  producing  them,  and  partly  on 
how  useful  they  seem  to  others.  The  price  of  goods  is  not  for 
any  great  length  of  time  lower  than  the  cost  of  producing  them, 
for  the  producers  will  cease  to  produce  particular  kinds  of 
goods  after  beginning  to  lose  money  on  them.  This  by  dimin 
ishing  the  supply  of  the  goods  will  tend  to  raise  their  price. 
On  the  other  hand,  where  competition  is  free,  the  price  of 
goods  cannot  long  remain  much  above  the  cost  of  production. 
For  if  the  profits  are  very  great,  so  many  goods  will  be  pro 
duced  that  the  supply  will  exceed  the  demand,  —  a  condition 
which  will  tend  to  lower  the  price.  The  price  of  goods  is 
never  higher  than  the  buyers  are  willing  to  pay  rather  than  to 
do  without  them. 

Other  Expenses.  —  The  manufacturer  has  still  other  expenses 
to  consider  before  he  can  estimate  correctly  his  profits  arid  his 
losses.  These  include  taxes,  insurance,  and  other  items. 

HIST.    EV.    SCII.  6 


92  OUR  BUSINESS  AFFAIRS 

Taxes. —  Taxes  are  the  amounts  levied  upon  property  bj 
government  for  its  own  expenditures.  In  every  civilized 
nation,  taxes  are  unavoidable.  Government  pays  for  the 
police,  who,  sometimes  at  the  risk  of  their  own  lives,  make 
property  secure ;  government  pays  for  education  by  which  chil 
dren  are  prepared  for  life  as  good  and  useful  citizens ;  it  pays 
for  the  protection  of  buildings  from  destruction  by  fire;  for 
the  army  and  navy  that  keep  foreign  enemies  away  from  our 
homes ;  and  for  many  other  things. 

Fire  Insurance.  —  Fire  insurance  is  the  provision  by  which, 
upon  the  payment  of  a  premium,  various  corporations  agree  to 
give  in  case  of  loss  of  property  by  fire  either  certain  amounts 
of  money  or  to  repair  the  property.  Only  very  wealthy  men 
or  corporations  owning  many  different  buildings  can  afford  to 
run  the  risk  of  losing  a  building  by  fire. 

Profit  and  Loss.  —  After  the  manufacturer  has  paid  the  rent 
of  land,  the  interest  on  the  cost  of  buildings,  machinery,  and 
cash  capital,  the  wages  of  the  workingmen,  the  taxes  and  insur 
ance  on  his  property,  and  all  other  expenses,  and  has  received 
payment  for  the  products  of  his  factory,  he  knows  whether  he 
has  made  a  profit  or  sustained  a  loss. 

Competition  and  Trusts. — As  the  workman  cannot  live  unless 
he  gets  his  wages,  so  the  employer  cannot  long  continue  his 
business  unless  he  makes  profits.  Many  employers  fail  in 
business.  This  is  due  partly  to  competition  which  tends  con 
stantly  to  reduce  the  prices  of  products,  and  partly  to  the 
employers'  drawing  for  themselves  out  of  their  receipts  from 
sales  more  money  than  the  profits  warrant.  In  recent  years, 
in  the  United  States,  more  than  half  the  business  men  — 
manufacturers,  merchants,  contractors  —  have  failed  at  least 
once  in  business.  In  order  to  do  away  as  much  as  possi 
ble  with  competition,  the  capitalists  in  recent  years  have 
been  organizing  great  corporations  or  trusts  that  have  com 
bined  smaller  competing  enterprises  and  have  put  the  former 
heads  of  these  enterprises  upon  regular  salaries  in  the  great 
corporations. 


SUMMARY 

91.  America  in  History.  —  Wheii  the  colonists  in  America 
declared  independence  from  England  in  1776,  they  little  under 
stood  what  they  had  undertaken  and  what  the  nation  that  they 
had  begun  was  yet  to  become.  They  would  have  been  aston 
ished  by  a  vision  of  the  things  that  are  now  real.  To  them 
not  the  only  incredible  things  would  have  been  the  telephone 
and  telegraph,  the  steam  locomotive  and  steamship,  the  great 
twenty-story  office  buildings,  and  the  marvelous  billion-dollar 
industrial  corporations.  Incredible  to  them  would  have  been 
the  present  average  popular  intelligence  due  to  the  free  public 
schools  and  libraries,  and  to  the  activity  of  the  modern  print 
ing  press.  Incredible  would  have  been  the  present  high  posi' 
tion  of  woman.  Incredible  would  have  been  the  political 
equality  of  all  citizens,  rich  and  poor,  educated  and  ignorant. 

We  have  many  things  yet  to  accomplish  in  America,  but 
there  is  not  much  that  we  can  do  in  the  way  of  progress  by 
trying  to  revive  or  to  imitate  conditions  in  the  Old  World. 
In  the  United  States  we  have  yet  to  solve,  if  possible,  the 
problems  of  capital  and  labor,  of  wealth  and  poverty,  and  of 
the  overcrowding  of  cities ;  but  ever  since  the  first  European 
settlement  of  America,  the  people  of  this  land  have  gone  on 
from  experiment  to  experiment  in  all  the  affairs  of  govern 
ment  and  society,  steadily  realizing  better  and  better  condi 
tions  of  life  for  the  body  and  for  the  soul.  It  is  the  American 
ideal  that  all  are  to  share  in  the  general  progress  in  wealth, 
intelligence,  and  morality.  Here  opportunity  is  denied  to 
none.  Here,  for  the  first  time  in  human  history,  a  great  and 
rich  nation  of  men,  free  and  equal,  has  grown  up,  conscious  of 
the  purpose  in  all  its  institutions  to  help  each  citizen  to  make 
the  most  of  himself.  By  the  free  institutions  of  America, 

93 


94  SUMMARY 

heritages  of  all  past  ages  in  science  and  art  and  literature,  in 
government  and  religion,  in  the  home  and  in  the  school,  con 
stituting  an  incalculable  treasure,  are  ready  and  waiting  to  be 
taken  by  all  who  desire  to  possess  them.  How  much  we  re 
ceive  depends  almost  entirely  upon  ourselves,  upon  our  desire 
and  our  effort.  The  vast,  progressive  civilization  all  about  us, 
by  means  of  which  we  live,  offers  its  aid  on  every  hand,  when 
we  understand  its  meaning  and  are  ourselves  willing  and  able 
to  take  our  place  and  to  do  our  part  in  its  great  and  beneficent 
activities. 


APPENDIX 


THE  PRESIDENTS 

PARTY 

TERM 

STATE 

George  Washington 

No  party 

1789-1797 

Virginia 

John  Adams 

Federalist 

1797-1801 

Massachusetts 

Thomas  Jefferson 

Republican  * 

1801-1809 

Virginia 

James  Madison 

Republican  : 

1809-1817 

Virginia 

James  Monroe 

Republican  l 

1817-1825 

Virginia 

John  Quincy  Adams 

Republican  2 

1825-1829 

Massachusetts 

Andrew  Jackson 

Democratic 

1829-1837 

Tennessee 

Martin  Van  Buren 

Democratic 

1837-1841 

New  York 

William  Henry  Harrison 

Whig 

1841 

Ohio 

John  Tyler 

Whig  3 

1841-1845 

Virginia 

J  nines  Knox  Polk 

Democratic 

1845-1849 

Tennessee 

Xachary  Taylor 

Whig 

1849-1850 

Louisiana 

Millard  Fillmore 

Whig 

1850-1853 

New  York 

Franklin  Pierce 

Democratic 

1853-1857 

New  Hampshire 

James  Buchanan 

Democratic 

1857-1861 

Pennsylvania 

Abraham  Lincoln 

Republican 

1861-1865 

Illinois 

Andrew  Johnson 

Republican  4 

1865-1869 

Tennessee 

Ulysses  Simpson  Grant 

Republican 

1869-1877 

Illinois 

Rutherford  Birchard  Hayes 

Republican 

1877-1881 

Ohio 

James  Abram  Garfield 

Republican 

1881 

Ohio 

Chester  Alan  Arthur 

Republican 

1881-1885 

New  York 

Grover  Cleveland 

Democratic 

1885-1889 

New  York 

Benjamin  Harrison 

Republican 

1889-1893 

Indiana 

Giover  Cleveland 

Democratic 

1893-1897 

New  York 

William  McKinley 

Republican 

1897-1901 

Ohio 

Theodore  Roosevelt 

Republican 

1901-1909 

New  York 

William  H.  Taft 

Republican 

1909- 

Ohio 

1  Sometimes  called  Democratic-Republican  —  the  party  from  which    the 
Democratic  party  of  to-day  claims  descent. 

2  At  the  time  of  John  Quincy  Adams's  election,  political  parties  were  dis 
organized.    He  called  himself  a  Republican  but  his  doctrines  were  Federalistic. 

8  An  anti-Jackson  Democrat  elected  on  the  Whig  ticket. 
4  A  Union  war  Democrat  elected  upon  the  Republican  ticket. 

95 


96 


APPENDIX 


DATES   OF   SETTLEMENT  AND   ADMISSION   OF   STATES 


No. 

STATES 

DATE  OF 
ADMISSION 

INTO  THE 

UNION 

DATE  OF 

SETTLE 
MENT 

No. 

STATES 

h,§H 

O  -  =   S5 

a£H2 

|s|£ 

<<  M 

DATE  OF 
SETTLK- 

MENT 

1 

Delaware   .... 

1  1787 

1638 

25 

Arkansas  .  . 

1836 

1685 

2 

Pennsylvania  .   . 

1  1787 

1682 

26 

Michigan   .  . 

1837 

1668 

3 
4 

New  Jersey  .  .  . 
Geor°ia 

1  1787 
i  1788 

1664 
1733 

27 
28 

Florida    .  .  . 
Texas  .... 

1845 
1845 

1565 
1692 

5 

Connecticut  .   .  . 

1  1788 

1633 

29 

Iowa  

1846 

1833 

6 

Massachusetts    . 

1  1788 

1620 

30 

Wisconsin  .  . 

1848 

1745 

7 

Maryland  .... 

U788 

1634 

31 

California  .   . 

1850 

1769 

8 

South  Carolina  . 

1  1788 

1670 

32 

Minnesota  .   . 

1858 

1838 

9 

10 

New  Hampshire  . 
Virginia  .   . 

1  1788 
1  1788 

1623 
1607 

33 
34 

Oregon    .  .  . 
Kansas    .   .  . 

1859 
1861 

1811 
1854 

11 

New  York.  .   .  . 

1  1788 

2  1613 

35 

West  Virginia 

1863 

1764 

12 

North  Carolina  . 

1  1789 

1653 

30 

Nevada   .  .  . 

1864 

1850 

13 

Rhode  Island  .   . 

i  1790 

1636 

37 

Nebraska    .  . 

1867 

1847 

14 

Vermont    .... 

1791 

1724 

38 

Colorado    .  . 

1876 

1859 

15 

Kentucky  .... 

1792 

1775 

39 

North  Dakota 

1889 

1812 

16 
17 

Tennessee  .... 
Ohio  

1796 

1803 

1757 
1788 

40 
41 

South  Dakota 
Montana    .  . 

1889 
1889 

1859 
1809 

18 
19 

Louisiana  .... 
Indiana 

1812 
1816 

1718 
2  1702 

42 
43 

Washington  . 
Idaho  .... 

1889 
1890 

1811 
1842 

20 

21 

Mississippi    .  .   . 
Illinois       .   .   . 

1817 
1818 

1699 

2  1682 

44 
45 

Wyoming  .   . 
Utah 

1890 
1896 

1867 
1847 

22 
23 

Alabama   .... 
Maine  

1819 
1820 

1702 
2  1623 

46 
47 

Oklahoma  .  . 
New  Mexico  . 

1907 
1912 

1889 
1598 

24 

Missouri    .... 

1821 

1755 

48 

Arizona  .   .  . 

1912 

2  1700 

CITY   DEPARTMENTS   AND   EXPENDITURES 

The  following  report  from  the  Auditor's  office  of  the  city  of 
Newark,  New  Jersey,  1902,  shows  the  amount  appropriated 
for  the  various  departments  of  the  city  government  for  the 
fiscal  year  beginning  July  1,  1902.  In  connection  with  the 
public  schools,  it  should  be  noted  that  there  is  appropriated  in 
New  Jersey,  in  addition  to  local  amounts,  a  very  large  sum,  for 


l  Date  of  ratifying  the  Constitution. 


2  Doubtful. 


APPENDIX 


97 


the  benefit  of  each  municipality,  from  the  State  treasury,  so 
that  the  annual  cost  of  the  public  schools  in  the  city  of  Newark 
for  the  year  1902  was  nearly  twice  as  large  as  the  item  here 
given. 

In  certain  other  departments,  large  sums  are  received  from 
the  local  sources,  as  in  the  case  of  water  which  is  paid  for  by 
consumers. 

Examine  and  discuss  all  these  items. 

Public  schools        ....                 .         .  $505,000.00 

Sinking  fund  and  interest 496,128.00 

Police     .                          ...                 .  452,000.00 

Fire  department 363,000.00 

Public  lighting                         .         .         .         ,  185,000.00 

Streets  and  highways 119,000.00 

Repaying  streets 100,000.00 

Scavenger  contract 74,164.00 

City  Home 45,000.00 

Sewers,  cleaning  and  repairs          .        .                 .  45,000.00 

Free  Library           ...                 .  43,000.00 

City  Hospital 40,000.00 

Collecting  taxes 28,000.00 

Assessment  department          .....  25,000.00 

Public  health         ...                 ...  23,000.00 

Poor  and  alms 22,000.00 

Street  and  Water  Commissioners           .         .         .  40,000.00 

Hospitals       ....                 .                 .  18,000.00 

Uncollected  personal  tax,  1900      ....  10,000.00 

Water  supply 7,500.00 

Construction  and  alteration  of  buildings        .  6,000.00 

Crosswalks     ...                 ....  5,000.00 

Public  baths  .                                   ....  5,000.00 

Public  buildings 5,000.00 

Public  grounds        .         .                 ....  5,000.00 

Sidewalks,  repairing       .                  .                           .  3,000.00 

Bridges  ...                 3,000.00 

Purchase  land  for  Fourth  Police  Precinct      '.         .  3,500.00 


98  APPENDIX 

Purchase  land  for  firehouse,  Eighth  Ward     .        .  $3,000.00 

Wharves         .                                  ....  1,500.00 

Industrial  schools                    .                          .  400.00 

Defalcations            ...                                  .  100.00 

There  are  other  items  to  be  noted  in  connection  with  the 
city  treasury.  The  city  receives  financial  help  from  the  State 
for  its  hospitals,  its  department  for  collecting  taxes,  its  fire  de 
partment,  its  poor,  and  its  department  of  health.  The  city  also 
receives  from  individuals  upon  assessments  of  property  sums 
for  the  department  of  water  and  streets.  The  water  depart 
ment  in  Newark  receives  more  than  §500,000  a  year,  and 
the  street  departments  nearly  §250,000.  The  total  appropria 
tions  in  Newark  for  1902  were  §2,683,958,  and  its  receipts 
from  all  other  sources  were  expected  to  be  $1,537,592.  The 
county  taxes  in  Newark  for  the  fiscal  year  1902-1903  were 
$1,000,000. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  THE  FURTHER  STUDY  OF  UNITED 
STATES  HISTORY  AND   GOVERNMENT 

1.  Read  in  a  standard  encyclopedia  the  biographies  of  the 
great  men  whose  names  are  mentioned  in  the  preceding  text. 
Talk  over  their  lives  and  write  brief  paragraphs  upon  them. 

2.  Find  upon  the  map  the  various  States  and  places  men 
tioned  in  the  text. 

3.  Consult  the  standard  American  History  and  Civil  Gov 
ernment  text-books  upon  any  points  that  prove  especially  inter 
esting  in  the  class  discussions  of  topics  treated  in  the  brief 
account  here. 

4.  Bring  to  class  sample  ballots  used  in  political  elections 
and  in  party  primaries.     Discuss  the  duties  of  various  offices 
for  which  candidates  have  been  put  in  nomination  by  the  vari 
ous  parties.     Discuss  also  the  conditions  upon  which  men  may 
become  voters  in  your  own  State. 

5.  Especially  discuss  the  duties  of  all  the  prominent  officers 
in  your  local  municipality :  mayor,  aldermen  and  councilmen. 


APPENDIX  99 

board  of  health,  board  of  education,  school  superintendent,  board 
of  public  works,  city  engineer,  commissioner  of  highways,  com 
missioner  of  sewers,  commissioners  of  police,  overseers  of  the 
poor,  city  physician,  etc. 

6.  Notice  what  local  buildings  your  municipality  owns  in 
the  way  of  city  or  town  hall,  jail,  firehouses,  schoolhouses, 
libraries,  hospitals,  almshouses,  etc. 

7.  Find  out  about  the  various  public  buildings  owned  by  the 
State  and  the  counties,  such  as  asylums  for  the  insane,  poor- 
houses,  hospitals,  penitentiaries,  reform  schools,  etc. 

8.  In  the  current  illustrated  weeklies  and  monthlies,  notice 
illustrations  of  various  kinds  of  national,  State,  county,  and 
local  public  properties,  such  as  buildings,  ships,  parks,  military 
stations,  etc. 

9.  Find  out  the  conditions  of  service  in  the  United  States 
navy  and  in  the  United  States  army;  also  the  conditions  of 
service  in  your  own  State's  militia. 

10.  In  all  work  in  history  and  government  remember  that, 
while  breadth  of  view  is  desirable,  accuracy  of  information  is 
of  first  importance.  It  is  not  necessary  to  know  many  dates, 
but  it  is  necessary  to  a  true  historical  perspective  that  a  few 
dates  should  be  known  with  absolute  correctness. 

NOTES  TO  TEACHER.  —  1.  When  opportunity  offers,  invite  men  who 
hold  public  positions,  such  as  the  chief  of  police,  city  librarian,  super 
intendent  of  schools,  an  army  officer,  to  visit  the  evening  school  and  to 
talk  to  the  classes  about  the  duties  of  government  as  they  know  them. 

2.  When  school  facilities  permit,  give  illustrated  stereopticon  lectures 
upon  topics  of  historical   interest  or  relating  to  the  conduct  of  civil 
government. 

3.  Get  books  of  American  biography  and  the  best  historical  novels  and 
have  them  read  during  evening  school  hours  by  those  whose  proficiency 
warrants  such  use  of  their  time.     Such  students  may  talk  to  the  class 
about  what  they  have  read  —  an  invaluable  exercise  in  clearing  up  ideas 
upon  only  partly  understood  topics. 

4.  Explain  the  principles  of  the  American  protective  tariff  and  the 
methods  of  levying  internal  revenue  duties. 

5.  Explain  the  method  of  conducting  national  banks.     This  topic  is  of 
importance  also  in  arithmetic. 


100  APPENDIX 

ADDITIONAL  READINGS 

Among  books  of  especial  interest  and  value,  both  to  teachers 
and  to  students  of  American  history,  are  the  following : 

SOURCE   MATERIALS 

Hart's  American  History  told  by  Contemporaries.     4  vols. 

Hart's  Source  Book  of  American  History. 

Hart's  Source  Readers  of  American  History  (Juvenile).  4  vols. 

Caldwell's  American  History. 

Old  South  Leaflets. 

ONE-VOLUME    HISTORIES 

Thorpe's   History  of  the  American  People. 
Barnes's  School  History  of  the  United  States,  and  McLaugh- 
lin's,  McMaster's,  Eggleston's,  Channing's,  etc. 

STANDARD    HISTORIES 

Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States.     1492-1789.     6  vols. 

Schouler's  History  of  the  United  States.     1783-1865.     6  vols. 

McMaster's  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States.  (Revo 
lution  to  Civil  War.)  5  vols.  ready. 

Epochs  of  American  History.  Vol.  I,  Thwaites ;  Vol.  II, 
Hart;  Vol.  Ill,  Wilson.  (This  contains  valuable  lists  of  books.) 

ENCYCLOPEDIAS    OF    HISTORY 

Harper's  Encyclopedia  of  United  States  History.     10  vols. 
Larned's  History  for  Ready  Reference  (esp.  Vol.  V).     6  vols. 

SPECIAL    WORKS 

Fiske's  Discovery  of  America;  Old  Virginia  and  her  Neigh 
bors  ;  Beginnings  of  New  England;  The  Dutch  and  Quaker 
Colonies;  American  Revolution;  Critical  Period. 

CIVIL    GOVERNMENT 

Willoughby's  Rights  and  Duties  of  American  Citizenship; 
Peterman's  Civil  Government. 


THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE  — 1776 


IN  CONGRESS,  JULY  4,  1776. 

THE    UNANIMOUS   DECLARATION    OF    THE    THIRTEEN    UNITED   STATES   OP 
AMERICA 

WHEN,  in  the  course  of  human  events,  it  becomes  necessary  for  one 
people  to  dissolve  the  political  bands  which  have  connected  them  with 
another,  and  to  assume,  among  the  powers  of  the  earth,  the  separate  and 
equal  station  to  which  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God  entitle 
them,  a  decent  respect  to  the  opinions  of  mankind  requires  that  they 
should  declare  the  causes  which  impel  them  to  the  separation. 

We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident:  that  all  men  are  created 
equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable 
rights ;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 
That,  to  secure  these  rights,  governments  are  instituted  among  men, 
deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed  ;  that,  when 
ever  any  form  of  government  becomes  destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is  the 
right  of  the  people  to  alter  or  to  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  new  govern 
ment,  laying  its  foundation  on  such  principles,  and  organizing  its  powers 
in  such  form,  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect  their  safety  and 
happiness.  Prudence,  indeed,  will  dictate  that  governments  long  estab 
lished,  should  not  be  changed  for  light  and  transient  causes ;  and,  ac 
cordingly,  all  experience  hath  shown,  that  mankind  are  more  disposed  to 
suffer,  while  evils  are  sufferable,  than  to  right  themselves  by  abolishing 
the  forms  to  which  they  are  accustomed.  But,  when  a  long  train  of 
abuses  and  usurpations,  pursuing  invariably  the  same  object,  evinces  a 
design  to  reduce  them  under  absolute  despotism,  it  is  their  right,  it  is 
their  duty,  to  throw  off  such  government,  and  to  provide  new  guards  for 
their  future  security.  —  Such  has  been  the  patient  sufferance  of  these 
colonies  ;  and  such  is  now  the  necessity  which  constrains  them  to  alter 
their  former  systems  of  government.  The  history  of  the  present  king 
of  Great  Britain  is  a  history  of  repeated  injuries  and  usurpations,  all  hav- 

101 


102  APPENDIX 


ing  in  direct  object  the  'establishment  of  an  absolute  tyranny  over  these 
States.  To  prove  this,  let  facts  be  submitted  to  a  candid  world. 

He  has  refused  his  assent  to  laws  the  most  wholesome  and  necessary 
for  the  public  good. 

He  has  forbidden  his  governors  to  pass  laws  of  immediate  and  pressing 
importance,  unless  suspended  in  their  operation  till  his  assent  should  be 
obtained  ;  and,  when  so  suspended,  he  has  utterly  neglected  to  attend  to 
them. 

He  has  refused  to  pass  other  laws  for  the  accommodation  of  large  dis 
tricts  of  people,  unless  those  people  would  relinquish  the  right  of  repre 
sentation  in  the  legislature,  a  right  inestimable  to  them  and  formidable 
to  tyrants  only. 

He  has  called  together  legislative  bodies  at  places  unusual,  uncomfort 
able,  and  distant  from  the  depository  of  their  public  records,  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  fatiguing  them  into  compliance  with  his  measures. 

He  has  dissolved  representative  houses  repeatedly,  for  opposing,  with 
manly  firmness,  his  invasions  on  the  rights  of  the  people. 

He  has  refused,  for  a  long  time  after  such  dissolutions,  to  cause  others 
to  be  elected ;  whereby  the  legislative  powers,  incapable  of  annihilation, 
have  returned  to  the  people  at  large  for  their  exercise  ;  the  State  remain 
ing,  in  the  meantime,  exposed  to  all  the  dangers  of  invasion  from  with 
out,  and  convulsions  within. 

He  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  population  of  these  States  ;  for  that 
purpose  obstructing  the  laws  for  naturalization  of  foreigners  ;  refusing  to 
pass  others  to  encourage  their  migration  hither,  and  raising  the  conditions 
of  new  appropriations  of  lands. 

He  has  obstructed  the  administration  of  justice,  by  refusing  his  assent 
to  laws  for  establishing  judiciary  powers. 

He  has  made  judges  dependent  on  his  will  alone  for  the  tenure  of  their 
offices,  and  the  amount  and  payment  of  their  salaries. 

He  has  erected  a  multitude  of  new  offices,  and  sent  hither  swarms  of 
officers  to  harass  our  people,  and  eat  out  their  substance. 

He  has  kept  among  us  in  times  of  peace,  standing  armies,  without  the 
consent  of  our  legislature. 

He  has  affected  to  render  the  military  independent  of,  and  superior  to, 
the  civil  power. 

He  has  combined,  with  others,  to  subject  us  to  a  jurisdiction  foreign 
to  our  constitution,  and  unacknowledged  by  our  laws ;  giving  his  assent 
to  their  acts  of  pretended  legislation  : 

For  quartering  large  bodies  of  armed  troops  among  us  : 

For  protecting  them,  by  a  mock  trial,  from  punishment  for  any  mur 
ders  which  they  should  commit  on  the  inhabitants  of  these  States : 


APPENDIX  103 

For  cutting  off  our  trade  with  all  parts  of  the  world : 

For  imposing  taxes  on  us  without  our  consent: 

For  depriving  us,  in  many  cases,  of  the  benefits  of  trial  by  jury: 

For  transporting  us  beyond  seas  to  be  tried  for  pretended  offenses : 

For  abolishing  the  free  system  of  English  laws  in  a  neighboring  prov 
ince,  establishing  therein  an  arbitrary  government  and  enlarging  its 
boundaries,  so  as  to  render  it  at  once  an  example  and  fit  instrument  for 
introducing  the  same  absolute  rule  into  these  colonies : 

For  taking  away  our  charters,  abolishing  our  most  valuable  laws,  and 
altering,  fundamentally,  the  forms  of  our  governments : 

For  suspending  our  own  legislatures,  and  declaring  themselves  invested 
with  power  to  legislate  for  us  in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

He  has  abdicated  government  here  by  declaring  us  out  of  his  protec 
tion,  and  waging  war  against  us. 

He  has  plundered  our  seas,  ravaged  our  coasts,  burnt  our  towns,  and 
destroyed  the  lives  of  our  people. 

He  is,  at  this  time,  transporting  large  armies  of  foreign  mercenaries 
to  complete  the  works  of  death,  desolation,  and  tyranny,  already  begun, 
with  circumstances  of  cruelty  and  perfidy  scarcely  paralleled  in  the  most 
barbarous  ages,  and  totally  unworthy  the  head  of  a  civilized  nation. 

He  has  constrained  our  fellow-citizens,  taken  captive  on  the  high  seas, 
to  bear  arms  against  their  country,  to  become  the  executioners  of  their 
friends  and  brethren,  or  to  fall  themselves  by  their  hands. 

He  has  excited  domestic  insurrections  amongst  us,  and  has  endeavored 
to  bring  on  the  inhabitants  of  our  frontiers,  the  merciless  Indian  savages, 
whose  known  rule  of  warfare  is  an  undistinguished  destruction  of  all  ages, 
sexes,  and  conditions. 

In  every  stage  of  these  oppressions,  we  have  petitioned  for  redress  in 
the  most  humble  terms :  our  repeated  petitions  have  been  answered  only 
by  repeated  injury.  A  prince,  whose  character  is  thus  marked  by  every 
act  which  may  define  a  tyrant,  is  unfit  to  be  the  ruler  of  a  free  people. 

Nor  have  we  been  wanting  in  attention  to  our  British  brethren.  We 
have  warned  them,  from  time  to  time,  of  attempts  by  their  legislature  to 
extend  an  unwarrantable  jurisdiction  over  us.  We  have  reminded  them 
of  the  circumstances  of  our  emigration  and  settlement  here.  We  have 
appealed  to  their  native  justice  and  magnanimity,  and  we  have  conjured 
them,  by  the  ties  of  our  common  kindred,  to  disavow  these  usurpations, 
which  would  inevitably  interrupt  our  connections  and  correspondence. 
They  too  have  been  deaf  to  the  voice  of  justice  and  consanguinity.  We 
must,  therefore,  acquiesce  in  the  necessity  which  denounces  our  separa 
tion,  and  hold  them,  as  we  hold  the  rest  of  mankind,  enemies  in  war,  in 
peace  friends. 


104  APPENDIX 

We,  therefore,  the  representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America,  in 
general  Congress  assembled,  appealing  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  world 
for  the  rectitude  of  our  intentions,  do,  in  the  name,  and  by  authority  of 
the  good  people  of  these  colonies,  solemnly  publish  and  declare,  That 
these  United  Colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent 
States ;  that  they  are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown, 
and  that  all  political  connection  between  them  and  the  state  of  Great 
Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved  ;  and  that,  as  free  and  inde 
pendent  States,  they  have  full  power  to  levy  war,  conclude  peace,  con 
tract  alliances,  establish  commerce,  and  to  do  all  other  acts  and  things 
which  independent  States  may  of  right  do.  And  for  the  support  of  this 
declaration,  with  a  firm  reliance  on  the  protection  of  Divine  Providence, 
we  mutually  pledge  to  each  other  our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred 

honor. 

AN   EQUAL   CHANCE 

"  We  have,  besides  the  men  descended  by  blood  from  our  ancestors, 
among  us,  perhaps  half  our  people  who  are  not  descendants  at  all  of  these 
men.  They  are  men  who  have  come  from  Europe  themselves,  or  whose 
ancestors  have  come  hither  and  settled  here,  finding  themselves  our  equals 
in  all  things.  If  they  look  back  through  history  to  trace  their  connection 
with  those  [Revolutionary]  days  by  blood,  they  find  they  have  none; 
they  cannot  carry  themselves  back  into  that  glorious  epoch  and  make 
themselves  feel  that  they  are  part  of  us  ;  but  when  they  look  through  that 
old  Declaration  of  Independence,  they  find  that  those  old  men  say  that, 
'  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men  are  created  equal,' 
and  then  they  feel  that  that  moral  sentiment,  taught  in  that  day,  evidences 
their  relation  to  those  men,  that  it  is  the  father  of  all  moral  principle  in 
them,  and  that  they  have  a  right  to  claim  it  as  though  they  were  blood  of 
the  blood  and  flesh  of  the  flesh  of  the  men  who  wrote  that  Declaration  ; 
and  so  they  are.  That  is  the  electric  cord  in  the  Declaration  that  links 
the  hearts  of  patriotic  and  liberty-loving  men  together ;  that  will  link 
those  patriotic  hearts  as  long  as  the  love  of  freedom  exists  in  the  minds 
of  men  throughout  the  world. 

****#*### 

That  sentiment  gave  liberty  not  alone  to  the  people  of  this  country, 
but  hope  to  all  the  world  for  all  future  time.  It  was  that  which  gave 
promise  that  in  due  time  the  weights  would  be  lifted  from  the  shoulders 
of  all  men,  and  that  all  should  have  an  equal  chance. 

********* 

Let  every  American,  every  lover  of  liberty,  every  well-wisher  to  pos 
terity,  pledge  his  life,  his  property,  and  his  sacred  honor  to  the  support  of 
the  Constitution  and  the  laws."  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


AN  EPITOME   OF  THE   CONSTITUTION  OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES 

(The  sections  in  quotation  marks  are  exact  reproductions.) 

PREAMBLE.  "\VE  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to 
form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity, 
provide  for  the  common  defense,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure 
the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and 
establish  this  Constitution  for  the  United  States  of  America.'* 

ARTICLE  I.  SECTION  1  provides  for  the  legislative  department  of 
the  national  government,  establishing  Congress,  and  dividing  it  into  two 
Houses,  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Representatives.  (See  p.  70.) 

SECTION  2.  Representatives  are  apportioned  among  the  several  States 
according  to  their  population.  They  serve  two  years.  (See  p.  71.) 

SECTION  3.  Two  senators  are  chosen  from  each  State.  They  serve  six 
years.  (See  p.  71.) 

The  Vice  President  of  the  United  States  is  President  of  the  Senate. 

SECTION  6.  All  members  of  Congress  are  "privileged  from  arrest  during 
their  attendance  at  the  session  of  their  respective  Houses,  and  in  going 
to  and  returning  from  the  same  ;  and  for  any  speech  or  debate  in  either 
House,  they  shall  not  be  questioned  in  any  other  place."  No  member 
can  hold  "any  civil  office  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States." 

SECTION  7.  The  representatives  (coming  direct  from  the  people)  origi 
nate  all  revenue  bills ;  but  the  Senate  may  propose  amendments. 

The  President  may  veto  bills,  but  his  veto  may  be  annulled  by  a  two- 
thirds  vote  of  both  houses  of  Congress. 

SECTION  8.  "  1  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  lay  and  collect 
taxes,  duties,  imposts  and  excises,  to  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the 
common  defense  and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States ;  but  all  duties, 
imposts  and  excises  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  United  States ; 

"2   To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States  ; 

"3  To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the  several 
States,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes ; 

"  4  To  establish  an  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,  and  uniform  laws  on 
the  subject  of  bankruptcies  throughout  the  United  States  ; 

"5  To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of  foreign  coin,  and 
fix  the  standard  of  weights  and  measures ; 

106 


106  APPENDIX 

"6  To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  securities  and 
current  coin  of  the  United  States  ; 

"  7   To  establish  post  offices  and  post  roads  ; 

"8  To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts  by  securing  for 
limited  times  to  authors  and  inventors  the  exclusive  right  to  their  respec 
tive  writings  and  discoveries ; 

"  i)  To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court ; 

"  10  To  define  and  punish  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the  high 
seas,  and  offenses  against  the  law  of  nations  ; 

"11  To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and  make 
rules  concerning  captures  on  land  and  water ; 

"12  To  raise  and  support  armies,  but  no  appropriation  of  money  to 
that  use  shall  be  for  a  longer  terra  than  two  years  ; 

"  13  To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy  ; 

"  14  To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation  of  the  land  and 
naval  forces  ; 

"15  To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of  the 
Union,  suppress  insurrections  and  repel  invasions  ; 

"  16  To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining  the  militia, 
and  for  governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be  employed  in  the  service 
of  the  United  States,  reserving  to  the  States  respectively  the  appointment 
of  the  officers,  and  the  authority  of  training  the  militia  according  to  the 
discipline  prescribed  by  Congress ; 

"17  To  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  over  such 
district  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square)  as  may,  by  cession  of  particular 
States  and  the  acceptance  of  Congress,  become  the  seat  of  the  government 
of  the  United  States,1  and  to  exercise  like  authority  over  all  places  pur 
chased  by  the  consent  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  in  which  the  same 
shall  be,  for  the  erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dockyards,  and 
other  needful  buildings  ;  and 

"  18  To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying 
into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  powers  vested  by  this 
Constitution  in  the  government  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  department 
or  officer  thereof." 

SECTION  9.  Habeas  corpus  is  guaranteed  save  in  time  of  war  or  public 
riot. 

Free  trade  is  established  between  the  States. 

"No  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States  :  and  no 
person  holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  them,  shall,  without  the 

1  The  District  of  Columbia,  which  comes  under  these  regulations,  had  not 
then  been  erected. 


APPENDIX  107 

consent  of  the  Congress,  accept  of  any  present,  emolument,  office,  or  title, 
of  any  kind  whatever,  from  any  king,  prince,  or  foreign  State." 

SECTION  10.  No  State  can  make  any  treaty  with  a  foreign  nation,  "  lay 
any  imposts  or  duties  on  imports  or  exports,1'  "engage  in  war  unless 
actually  invaded,"  or  coin  money. 

(Article  I  has  ten  sections.} 

ARTICLE  II  provides  for  the  executive  department  of  the  national 
government. 

SECTION  1  vests  the  "executive  power"  in  the  President  and  provides 
for  the  Electoral  College.  (See  p.  73.) 

SECTION  2  makes  the  President  "  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and 
navy,"  gives  him  control  of  all  branches  of  the  executive  department,  and 
grants  him  the  pardoning  power.  "  By  and  with  the  advice  and  consent 
of  the  Senate,"  he  shall  make  treaties  and  appoint  ambassadors,  consuls, 
judges,  etc. 

(Article  II  has  four  sections.) 

ARTICLE  III.  SECTION  1  organizes  the  judicial  department.  (See 
pp.  71,  72.) 

SECTION  2.    All  crimes  must  be  tried  by  jury. 

(Article  III  has  three  sections.) 

ARTICLE  IV.  SECTION  2.  "The  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be 
entitled  to  all  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States." 
Offenders  against  the  law  of  one  State,  fleeing  to  another,  must  be  returned. 
Slaves  who  run  away  must  also  be  returned. 

SECTION  4.  "The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this 
Union  a  Republican  form  of  government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them 
against  invasion  ;  and  on  application  of  the  Legislature,  or  of  the  ex 
ecutive  (when  the  Legislature  cannot  be  convened)  against  domestic 
violence." 

(Article  IV  has  four  sections. ) 

ARTICLE  V  provides  modes  for  amending  the  Constitution.   (Seep.  71.) 
(Articles  V,  VI,  and  VII  are  not  divided  into  sections.) 

ARTICLE  VI  makes  the  Constitution  "  the  supreme  law  of  the  land 
.  .  .  anything  in  the  Constitution  or  laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding. " 

ARTICLE  VII  made  the  Constitution  valid  upon  its  ratification  by 
nine  States.  (See  p.  35.) 

HIST.    EV.   SCH.  —  7 


108  APPENDIX 

AMENDMENTS   TO   THE   CONSTITUTION 
There  are  fifteen  amendments  to  the  Constitution  now  in  force. 

ARTICLE  I.  "Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establish 
ment  of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof  ;  or  abridging 
the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  press  ;  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably 
to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the  government  for  redress  of  grievances." 

ARTICLES  II-IX  guarantee  other  rights  of  the  people,  such  as  "to 
keep  arms,"  to  be  free  from  unreasonable  search  of  their  homes,  not 
"  to  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property  without  due  process  of  law," 
to  speedy  trial  when  charged  with  offenses,  to  trial  by  jury  in  large 
property  cases,  to  fair  bail,  and  to  reasonable  punishments. 

ARTICLE  X.  "  The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the 
Constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States 
respectively,  or  to  the  people." 

ARTICLE  XI  concerns  suits  by  a  citizen  against  a  State. 

ARTICLE  XII  provides  a  slightly  modified  plan  of  electing  the 
President. 

ARTICLE  XIII  forbids  "slavery"  and  "involuntary  servitude." 

ARTICLE  XIV  gives  to  the  freedmen  the  right  to  be  counted  equally 
with  those  born  free,  in  the  apportionment  of  representatives  (formerly 
five  slaves  counted  as  equal  to  but  three  freedmen). 

ARTICLE  XV.  "  The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote 
shall  not  be  denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States  or  by  any  State  on 
account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude." 


INDEX 


Aborigines,  14-16. 
Adams,  Charles  Francis,  53,  95. 
Adams,  John,  38,  1)5. 
Adams,  John  Quincy,  42,  95. 
Adams,  Samuel,  31. 
Additional  Readings,  100. 
Admission  of  States,  96. 
Agricultural  Regions,  8. 
Alaska,  Purchase  of,  54. 
Amendments  to  Constitution,  71,  108. 
Antietam,  Battle  of,  50. 
Appendix,  95-108. 
Appomattox  Court  House,  51. 
Arthur,  Chester  A.,  50,  95. 
Assembly,  State,  68. 
Atlanta,  Federals  in,  49. 

Bainhridge,  Commodore,  39. 
Ballot,  04. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  53. 
"  Bleeding  Kansas,"  47. 
Boston  Port  Bill,  30. 
Boston  "Tea  Party,"  30. 
Brown,  John,  48. 
Buchanan,  James,  47,  48,  95. 
Buena  Vista,  Battle  of,  44. 
Bull  Run,  Battle  of,  50. 
Bunker  Hill,  Battle  of,  33. 
Burgoyne,  General,  33. 
Business  affairs,  Our,  83-92. 

Cabinet,  The,  72. 
Capital  and  interest,  88. 

and  labor,  85. 
Cass,  Lewis,  45. 
Cavaliers,  23. 
Centennial  Exposition,  55. 
Cerro  Gordo,  Battle  of,  44. 
Chancellorsville,  Battle  of,  51. 
Charter  Colonies,  26. 
Chattanooga,  Battle  of,  49. 
Chickamauga,  Battle  of,  49. 
China,  American  interference  in,  59. 


Chinese  Exclusion  Acts,  56,  57,  59. 
Church  and  State,  23. 
Churubusco,  Battle  of,  44. 
Citizenship,  defined,  61-63. 
City  departments   and  expenditures. 

96-98. 

City  government,  65,  66. 
Civil  War,  48-53. 
Clay,  Henry,  37,  47. 
Cleveland,  Grover,  56,  57,  95. 
Climate  of  United  States,  8,  9. 
Colonial  governments,  26,  27. 
Colonial  life,  25. 
Colonial  wars,  26. 
Colonies  of  United  States,  12. 
Columbian  Exposition,  57. 
Columbus,  Christopher,  18,  20. 
Commonwealth  in  England,  24. 
Competition  and  trusts,  92. 
Confederate  States,  48. 
Congress,  Continental,  32,  35. 
Congress,  United  States,  70,  71,  105. 

Members  of,  71,  105. 

Powers  of,  70,  71,  105,  106. 
Constitution,  35,  74, 105-108. 

Amendments  to,  71,  108. 
Constitutional  Convention,  35. 
Contreras,  Battle  of,  44. 
Cornwallis,  Lord,  34. 
Corporations,  87. 
Cotton  gin,  83. 
County  government,  65. 
Courts,  Federal,  71. 

State,  68. 

Cowpens,  Battle  of,  34. 
Cuba,  Rebellions  in,  57. 

Republic  of,  58,  59. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  48. 
Decatur,  Commodore,  39. 
Declaration  of  Independence,  32,  33, 

101-104. 
De  Soto,  Ferdinand,  20. 


109 


110 


INDEX 


Democracy  and  freedom,  75,  76. 

Democrats,  37. 

Departments,    Functions    of    United 

States,  72,  73. 

Divisions  of  United  States,  9-12. 
Donelson,  Fort,  41). 
Dred  Scott  Case,  47. 

Education  and  the  general  welfare, 

78. 

Election,  Presidential,  73,  107. 
Electoral  College,  73,  107. 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  52. 
Embargo  Act,  39. 
Emigration  from  Europe,  14. 
Executive  Department  of  the  United 

States,  72,  107. 

Federalists,  37. 
Ferdinand,  King,  18. 
Fillmore,  Millard,  47,  95. 
Fire  insurance,  92. 
Florida,  Purchase  of,  41. 
Foreign  city  governments,  75. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  29,  31. 
Fredericksburg,  Battle  of,  51. 
French  Alliance,  33. 
French  and  Indian  War,  20. 
Fugitive  Slave  Act,  47. 

Gadsden  Purchase,  44. 
Garfield,  James  Abram,  56,  95. 
Geneva  Award,  54. 
Geography  of  United  States,  7-17. 
Georgia,  24. 

Gettysburg,  Battle  of,  51. 
Gold  Standard,  59. 
Government,  City,  65,  66. 

County,  05. 

Foreign,  74,  75. 

National,  70-74. 

Nature  of  our,  75. 

Origin  of  our,  36,  37. 

State,  67-(>9. 

Territories  and  Colonies,  69. 

Town,  64. 

Governor,  State,  68. 
Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  51,  54-56,  95. 
Greene,  General,  34. 
Guam,  Acquisition  of,  58. 


Habeas  Corpus  Act,  47. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  37. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  5(>,  57,  95. 

Harrison,  William  Henry,  40,  43,  95, 

Hawaiian  Islands,  59. 

Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  55,  95. 

Henry,  Fort,  49. 

Henry,  Patrick,  31. 

House  of  Delegates,  or  Representa 
tives,  State,  68. 

House  of  Representatives,  U.  S.,  70, 
105. 

Hudson,  Henry,  22. 

Immigration,  13. 
Impressment  of  Seamen,  40. 
Independence,  Declaration  of,  32,  33, 
101-104. 

Steps  to,  32. 
Indian  tribes,  14,  26. 
Indians,  Characteristics  of,  15. 

Origin  of,  15. 

Present  condition  of,  16. 
Insurance  for  risks,  89. 
Interest,  88,  89. 
Inventions,  83. 
Isabella,  Queen,  18. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  40,  42,  43,95. 

Jamestown,  21. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  37,  38,  39,  95. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  54,  95. 

Jones,  John  Paul,  34. 

Judicial  Department  of  U.  S.,  71,  107. 

Jury  trial,  62,  107. 

Kansas-Nebraska  Act,  47. 

Labor  and  wages,  90. 

Labor  unions,  85. 

Land  and  rent,  87. 

Lawrence,  Commodore,  40. 

Laws  governing  wages,  90. 

Lee,  General,  50. 

Legislative    Department    of    United 

States,  70,  105. 
Legislature,  State,  68. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  47,  48-54,  95. 
Louisiana  Exposition.  59. 
Louisiana  Purchase,  38. 
Loyalists,  31,  35. 


INDEX 


111 


Madison,  James,  39-41,  95. 

Manila,  Battle  of,  58. 

Mate  rials  and  price,  91. 

Mayfloicer,  23. 

MeKinley,  William,  57-59,  95. 

Mcrrimctc  and  Monitor^  49. 

Mexican  Cession,  44. 

Mexican  War,  44. 

Mineral  regions,  8. 

Mississippi  River,  Discovery  of,  20, 21. 

Missouri  Compromise,  41. 

Monitor  and  Merriiuac,  49. 

Monroe,  James,  41,  95. 

Monroe  Doctrine,  42. 

Moutcalm,  General,  26. 

Napoleon,  Emperor,  41. 
Nashville,  Battle  of,  50. 
National  Bank,  First,  37,  43. 
National  government,  70-74. 
Naturalization,  (53,  105. 
Negroes,  14,  26,  42,  43,  48. 
New  Amsterdam,  Founding  of,  22. 
New  Orleans,  Battle  of,  40. 
"  New  South,"  54. 
New  World,  Discovery  of,  18. 
New  York,  Settlement  of,  22. 
Nullification  in  South  Carolina,  43. 

Office  holding,  62,  64. 
Oglethorpe,  James,  24. 
Old  World,  Trade  with,  14. 
Oregon  Boundary,  Settlement,  45. 
"Original  States,"  10. 
Otis,  James,  31. 

Pacific  Railroad,  54. 

Pan-American  Exposition,  59. 

Panama  Canal,  59. 

Party  history,  81,  82. 

Party  organization,  79,  80. 

Peninsular  Campaign,  50. 

Penn,  William,  24. 

Pennsylvania,  24. 

Perry,  Commodore,  40. 

Philippine  Islands,  Acquisition  of,  58. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  47,  95. 

Pilgrims  at  Plymouth,  24. 

•'  Pirate  States,"  War  with,  39. 

Plank,  Party,  81. 


Platform,  Party,  81. 
Plymouth,  Settlement  of,  22. 
Political  divisions  of  the  United  States, 

9. 

Polk,  James  K.,  43-45,  95. 
Population,  13. 

Porto  Rico,  Acquisition  of,  58. 
Preble,  Commodore,  39. 
Present  issues,  60. 
President,  Election  of,  73. 

Powers  of,  72,  107. 
Presidents,  List  of,  95. 
Profit  and  loss,  92. 
Profit,  Sources  of,  87. 
Proprietary  Colonies,  28. 
Puritans  in  New  England,  23. 

Quakers,  24. 
Qualifications  of  voters,  62. 

Railways,  83. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  21. 

Reading,  Historical,  100. 

Reconstruction  in  the  South,  54,  56. 

Reform,  Civil  Service,  56. 

Rent,  88. 

Representatives,  71,  105. 

House  of,  70,  105. 
Republic,  Meaning  of,  76. 
Resources  of  United  States,  8. 
Revolutionary  WTar,  28-35. 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  59,  60,  95. 
Royal  Colonies,  28. 

Santiago,  Battle  of,  58. 
Saratoga,  Battle  of,  33. 
Savannah,  Sherman  in,  49. 
School  funds,  79. 
Schools,  Public,  78,  79. 
Scott,  General,  45. 
Secession,  War  of,  48-53. 
Senate,  State,  68. 

United  States,  70,  105. 
Senators,  71,  105. 
Settlement  of  States,  96. 
Sherman's  March,  49,  50. 
Shiloh,  Battle  of,  49. 
Slavery,  53,  108. 
Smith,  John,  21. 
Sound  money,  return  to,  56,  59- 


112 


INDEX 


Spain,  War  with,  57,  58. 
Squatter  Sovereignty,  45. 
Stamp  Act,  29. 
Standish,  Myles,  23. 
States,  Admission  of,  96. 

Government  of,  67-69. 

Groups  of,  10. 

Settlement  of,  96. 
Steamships,  83. 
Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher,  47. 
Stuyvesant,  Peter,  22. 
Suffrage,  62-64,  108. 
Suggestions  for  further  study,  98. 
Summary,  93. 
Sumter,  fort,  47. 
Supreme  Court,  State,  68,  69. 

United  States,  71,  72. 

Taft,  William  H.,  60,  95. 
Tariff  Acts,  41,  43,  57,  60. 
Tariff,  Protective,  89. 
Taxes,  73,  92. 

Taylor,  Zachary,  45,  47,  95. 
Telegraph,  84. 
Telephone,  84. 
Territories,  12,  69. 
Texas,  Annexation  of,  44. 
Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  55. 
Tories  or  Loyalists,  31,  35. 


Town  meeting,  64. 
Townshend  Acts,  30. 
Trade,  Colonial,  28. 
Trenton,  Battle  of,  33. 
Trusts,  92. 

Tutuila,  Acquisition  of,  59. 
Tyler,  John,  43,  95. 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  47. 

Valley  Forge,  33. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  43,  95. 

Variations  in  price  of  land,  88. 

Vice  President  of  United  States,  105. 

Vick.sburg,  Siege  of,  49. 

Voters,  Qualifications  of,  63. 

Wages,  Laws  governing,  90,  91. 

"  War  of  1812,"  40,  41. 

War  with  "  Pirate  States,"  39. 

Washington,    George,   32,   35,   37,   38, 

95. 

Wayne,  Anthony,  37. 
Webster,  Daniel,  39,  42,  47. 
Whisky  Insurrection,  38. 
Wilderness,  Battles  in,  51. 
Wilmot  Proviso,  45. 
Wolfe,  General,  26. 

Yorktown,  Surrender  of,  34. 


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^|  In  their  new  form  these  books  are  thoroughly  up-to-date, 
both  as  to  contents  and' as  to  dress.  The  Elementary  History 
has  been  entirely  rewritten  in  a  series  of  biographies  by  that 
charming  writer  for  children,  Dr.  James  Baldwin.  The 
School  History  has  been  completely  revised,  and  gives  greater 
prominence  to  the  life  of  the  people,  and  to  the  wonderful 
development  of  our  industries. 

EGGLESTON'S  NEW  CENTURY  HISTORY 

OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  .  .  .  $1.00 
^y  The  author's  purpose  was  to  tell  the  story  of  our  country 
so  briefly  that  it  might  be  mastered' within  the  usual  time 
allotted 'to  the  study,  and  yet  to  preserve  its  interest  unimpaired 
by  condensation.  He  has  been  especially  successful  in  pre 
senting  those  facts  of  the  home  life  of  the  people,  and  their 
progress  in  civilization,  which  are  essential  to  history. 

McMASTER'S    HISTORIES    OF    THE 
UNITED    STATES 

Primary,  $0.60;    Brief    .      . $1.00 

^[  These  books  are  remarkable  for  their  freshness  and  vigor, 
and  their  historical  and  impartial  treatment.  The  Primary 
History  contains  work  for  one  school  year,  and  is  simply  and 
interestingly  written.  The  Brief  History  directs  the  attention 
of  the  pupil  particularly  to  the  colonial  period,  yet  it  does 
not  neglect  the  later  events. 

WHITE'S  OUTLINE  STUDIES  IN  UNITED 

STATES  HISTORY $0.30 

^y  A  helpful  note  book  containing  blanks  to  be  filled  in  by  the 
pupil,  questions  to  be  answered,  outline  maps  for  the  location 
of  places,  marking  of  boundaries,  and  tracing  of  routes,  out 
lines  for  essays,  etc.,  with  full  directions  for  the  pupil  and 
suggestions  to  the  teacher. 


AMERICAN     BOOK     COMPANY 

(122) 


CLARK'S 
THE      GOVERNMENT 

WHAT  IT  IS,  WHAT  IT  DOES 

$0.75 


THIS  text-book   furnishes  a  unique  presentation  of  the 
subject,  treating  of  the  principles  of  general  govern 
ment   before   considering   those  of  local  government. 
Its    method    of  treatment    encourages    independent   thought 
and    personal     research.      This    appears,    not    only    in    the 
supplementary  work  at  the  end  of  each  chapter,  but  also  in 
the  problems  of  government  given  at  intervals.     Maps  and 
diagrams  are  used,  besides  suggestive  illustrations  to  reinforce 
the  text. 

^J  Following  an  account  of  the  government  in  general  the 
book  treats  of  the  chief  functions  of  government  in  a  definite 
and  logical  manner.  It  then  explains  the  American  system 
of  central  government  and  the  local  government  by  the 
people ;  it  discusses  voting,  State  and  national  constitutions, 
and  the  relation  of  nation,  State,  county,  township,  and  city 
tc  each  other.  The  principal  officials  of  the  various  govern 
mental  systems  are  taken  up,  and  their  duties,  qualifications, 
etc.,  properly  considered. 

^[  The  latter  part  of  the  book  presents  important  chapters  on 
certain  practical  operations  of  government,  such  as  :  Trials, 
law-making,  party  nominations,  political  issues,  and  political 
corruption.  A  short  summary  of  the  principles  of  inter 
national  law  and  of  the  commoner  laws  pertaining  to  business 
and  property  is  also  included. 

^j  The  author  lays  emphasis  on  the  importance  of  State 
governments,  and  enriches  the  text  with  illuminating  com 
parisons  with  foreign  governments.  He  presents  the  subject 
as  a  science,  a  complete  and  sensible  system  of  interdependent 
parts  and  defined  limits,  with  a  single  object — the  good  of 
the  people. 


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HICKS'S      CHAMPION 
SPELLING      BOOK 

By    WARREN    E,     HICKS,    Assistant    Superintendent    of 
Schools,    Cleveland,    Chio 

—       ^^mmm~mi^—a^^^^^^~*^^^^^^^^^^~  I"  '•• •••••  ...•..•..—• 

Complete,  $0.25    -    Part  One,  $o.  i  8   -    Fart  Two,  $0.18 


THIS  book  embodies  the  method  that  enabled  the  pupils 
in  the  Cleveland  schools  after  two  years  to  win  the  Na 
tional  Education  Association  Spelling  Contest  of  1908. 
^J  By  this  method  a  spelling  lesson  of  ten  words  is  given  each 
day  from  the  spoken  vocabulary  of  the  pupil.  Of  these  ten 
words  two  are  selected  for  intensive  study,  and  in  the  spelling 
book  are  made  prominent  in  both  position  and  type  at  the  head 
of  each  day's  lessons,  these  two  words  being  followed  by  the 
remaining  eight  words  in  smaller  type.  Systematic  review  is 
provided  throughout  the  book.  Each  of  the  ten  prominent 
words  taught  intensively  in  a  week  is  listed  as  a  subordinate 
word  in  the  next  two  weeks ;  included  in  a  written  spelling 
contest  at  the  end  of  eight  weeks ;  again  in  the  annual  contest 
at  the  end  of  the  year ;  and  again  as  a  subordinate  word  in  the 
following  year's  work; — used  five  times  in  all  within  two 
years. 

^j  The  Champion  Spelling  Book  consists  of  a  series  of  lessons 
arranged  as  above  for  six  school  years,  from  the  third  to  the 
eighth,  inclusive.  It  presents  about  1,200  words  each  year, 
and  teaches  312  of  them  with  especial  clearness  and  intensity. 
It  also  includes  occasional  supplementary  exercises  which  serve 
as  aids  in  teaching  sounds,  vowels,  homonyms,  rules  of  spell 
ing,  abbreviated  forms,  suffixes,  prefixes,  the  use  of  hyphens, 
plurals,  dictation  work,  and  wrord  building.  The  words  have 
been  selected  from  lists,  supplied  by  grade  teachers  of  Cleve 
land  schools,  of  words  ordinarily  misspelled  by  the  pupils  of 
their  respective  grades. 


AMERICAN     BOOK     COMPANY 


WEBSTER'S    DICTIONARIES 

The  Only  Genuine  School  Editions 


THESE    Dictionaries    are    the    acknowledged   authority 
throughout  the  English  speaking  world,  and  constitute 
a  complete   and  carefully  graded  series.      The  spelling 
and  punctuation  in  all  leading  schoolbooks  are  based  on  them. 


WEBSTER'S  PRIMARY  SCHOOL  DICTION 
ARY  $0.48 

Containing  over  20,000  words  and  meanings,  with  over 
400  illustrations. 

WEBSTER'S  COMMON  SCHOOL  DICTION 
ARY  $0.72 

Containing  over  25,000  words  and  meanings,  with  over 
500  illustrations. 

WEBSTER'S  HIGH  SCHOOL  DICTIONARY,  $0.98 

Containing  about  37,000  words  and  definitions,  and  an 
appendix  giving  a  pronouncing  vocabulary  of  Biblical, 
Classical,  Mythological,  Historical,  and  Geographical  proper 
names,  with  over  800  illustrations. 

WEBSTER'S  ACADEMIC  DICTIONARY 

Cloth,  $1.50;   Indexed $l.So 

Half  Calf,  #2.75;  Indexed 3.00 

Abridged  directly  from  the  International  Dictionary,  and 
giving  the  orthography,  pronunciations,  definitions,  and 
synonyms  of  about  60,000  words  in  common  use,  with  an 
appendix  containing  various  useful  tables,  with  over  800 
illustrations. 

SPECIAL  EDITIONS 

Webster's  Countinghouse  Dictionary.      Sheep, 

Indexed „   $2.40 

Webster's  Handy  Dictionary i  <j 

Webster's  Pocket  Dictionary  ......        .57 

The  same.      Roan,  Flexible 69 

The  same.      Roan,  Tucks 78 

The  same.      Morocco,  Indexed    ...        .90 


AMERICAN    BOOK     COMPANY 


DAVISON'S  HEALTH  SERIES 

By  ALVIN  DAVISON,  M.S.,  A.M.,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of 
Biology  in  Lafayette  College. 


Human  Body  and  Health : 

Elementary,   $0.40  Intermediate,     $0.50          Advanced,    $0.80 

Health  Lessons : 

Book  One  .         $0.35          Book  Two         .         .         $0.60 


THE  object  of  these  books  is  to  promote  health  and  pre 
vent  disease  •   and  at  the  same  time  to  do  it  in  such 
a  way  as  will  appeal  to  the  interest  of  boys  and  girls, 
and  fix  in  their  minds  the  essentials  of  right  living.      They  are 
books  of  real  service,  which  teach  mainly  the  lessons  of  health 
ful,  sanitary  living,  and  the  prevention  of  disease,  which  do  not 
waste  time  on  the  names  of  bones  and  organs,  which  furnish 
information  that  everyone  ought  to  know,  and  which  are  both 
practical  in  their  application  and  interesting  in  their  presentation. 
^1   These  books  make  clear: 

*ff  That  the  teaching  of  physiology  in  our  schools  can  be  made 
more  vital  and  serviceable  to  humanity. 

*y[  That  anatomy  and  physiology  are  cf  little  value  to  young 
people,  unless  they  help  them  to  practice  in  their  daily  lives 
the  teachings  of  hygiene  and  sanitation. 

^]  That  both  personal  and  public  health  can  be  improved  by 
teaching  certain  basal  truths,  thus  decreasing  the  death  rate, 
now  so  large  from  a  general  ignorance  of  common  diseases. 
^[  That  such  instruction  should  show  how  these  diseases, 
colds,  pneumonia,  tuberculosis,  typhoid  fever,  diphtheria,  and 
malaria  are  contracted  and  how  they  can  be  prevented. 
^]  That  the  foundation  for  much  of  the  illness  in  later  life  is 
laid  by  the  boy  and  girl  during  school  years,  and  that  in 
struction  which  helps  the  pupils  to  understand  the  care  of  the 
body,  and  the  true  value  of  fresh  air,  proper  food,  exercise,  and 
cleanliness,  will  add  much  to  the  wealth  of  a  nation  and  the 
happiness  of  its  people. 


AMERICAN    BOOK     COMPANY 

C'53) 


THE     ELEANOR     SMITH 
MUSIC    COURSE 

By    ELEANOR    SMITH,    Head    of  the   Department    of 
Music,  School  of  Education,  University  of  Chicago. 


Primer $0.25  Alternate  Second  Book       .   $0.30 

First  Book 25          Third  Book 40 

Second  Book 30          Fourth  Book 50 

Teacher's  Manual  ....      $0.50 


THIS   music   series,  consisting  of  six  books,  covers    the 
work  of  the  primary  and  grammar  grades.     It  contains 
nearly    a    thousand   songs    of  exceptional   charm   and 
interest,  which  are  distinguished  by  their  thoroughly  artistic 
quality  and  cosmopolitan  character.      The  folk  songs  of  many 
nations,   selections  from  the  works  of  the   most   celebrated 
masters,  numerous  contributions  from  many  eminent  Ameri 
can    composers,     now    presented    for    the    first    time,    are 
included. 

<|  The  Eleanor  Smith  Music  Course  is  graded  in  sympathy 
with  the  best  pedagogical  ideas — according  to  which  every 
song  becomes  a  study,  and  every  study  becomes  a  song. 
Technical  points  are  worked  out  by  means  of  real  music, 
instead  of  manufactured  exercises;  complete  melodies,  instead 
of  musical  particles.  Each  technical  point  is  illustrated  by  a 
wealth  of  song  material.  A  great  effort  has  been  made  to 
reduce  to  the  minimum  the  number  of  songs  having  a  very 
low  alto. 

|J  The  course  as  a  whole  meets  the  demands  of  modern 
education.  Modern  life  and  modern  thought  require  the 
richest  and  best  of  the  past,  combined  with  the  richest  and 
best  of  the  present,  so  organized  and  arranged  as  to  satisfy 
existing  conditions  in  the  school  and  home.  The  series 
is  world  wide  in  its  sources,  universal  in  its  adaptation, 
and  modern  in  the  broadest  and  truest  sense  of  the 
word. 


AMERICAN     BOOK     COMPANY 

(i4o; 


NATURE  STUDY  BY  GRADES 

By  HORACE  H.  CUMMINGS,  B.S.,  Formerly  Super- 
visor  of  Nature  Study,  State  Normal  School,  University 
of  Utah. 


Vol.    I.        Teachers'  Book  for  Primary  Grades $0.90 

Vol.    II.      Textbook  for  Lower  Grammar  Grades    ...            .        .60 
Vol.    III.    Textbook  for  Higher  Grammar  Grades 75 


UNLIKE  other  textbooks  upon  Nature  Study,  this  series 
presents  definite  work  in  each  grade  for  both  city  and 
rural  schools,  and  is  not  confined  to  the  consideration 
of  animal  and  plant  life.  Its  scope,  on  the  contrary,  is  practi 
cally  unlimited,  its  object  being  to  bring  the  pupil  into  contact 
with  the  objects  of  his  home  and  school  environment,  and 
through  careful  observation  of  these,  to  lead  him  to  discover 
the  principles  by  which  nature  is  governed  and  to  understand 
more  clearly  how  these  principles  may  be  used  to  serve  man's 
needs.  Some  physical  experience — observing,  handling,  or 
experimenting  with  an  object — before  its  abstract  considera 
tion — is  the  keynote  of  all  three  volumes  of  the  series. 
^[  Field  lessons,  excursions,  and  visits  to  places  of  industry 
are  planned  for,  where  operations  of  nature  or  occupations  of 
man  may  be  studied  first  hand.  In  order  that  the  pupil  may 
derive  all  the  benefit  possible  from  direct  investigation,  the 
text  throughout  the  series  is  presented  in  the  form  of  questions, 
each  question  depending  either  upon  the  knowledge  the  pupil 
has  already  accumulated  or  upon  his  power  of  observation, 
thus  helping  him  to  build  up  for  himself  the  best  foundation 
for  rational  interpretation  and  to  develop  his  sense  per 
ception. 

^|  Such  illustrations  as  are  used  are  included  purely  for  prac 
tical  purposes — either  to  explain  the  construction  and  use  of 
apparatus  or  to  show  some  phenomenon  or  condition  in  nature 
not  likely  to  be  seen  by  the  pupils  living  in  cities. 


AMERICAN    BOOK    COMPANY 


BALDWIN   AND   BENDER'S 
EXPRESSIVE    READERS 

By  JAMES  BALDWIN,  Author  of  Baldwin's  School  Read 
ers,  Harper's  Readers,  etc.  and  IDA  C.  BENDER, 
Supervisor  of  Primary  Grades,  Buffalo,  New  York. 

AN  EIGHT  BOOK  SERIES  or  A  FIVE  BOOK  SERIES 
WITH  TEACHERS'   MANUAL 


THE  authorship  of  this  series  is  conclusive  evidence  of 
its  rare  worth,  of  its  happy  union  of  the  ideal  and  the 
practical.  The  chief  design  of  the  books  is  to  help  pupils 
to  acquire  the  art  and  habit  of  reading  so  well  as  to  give  pleas 
ure  both  to  themselves  and  to  those  who  listen  to  them.  They 
teach  reading  with  expression,  and  the  selections  have,  to  a 
large  extent,  been  chosen  for  this  purpose. 
^f  These  readers  are  very  teachable  and  readable,  and  are  un 
usually  interesting  both  in  selections  and  in  illustrations.  The 
selections  are  of  a  very  high  literary  quality.  Besides  the 
choicest  schoolbook  classics,  there  are  a  large  number  which 
have  never  before  appeared  in  school  readers.  The  contents 
are  well  balanced  between  prose  and  poetry,  and  the  subject 
matter  is  unusually  varied.  Beginning  with  the  Third  Reader, 
selections  relating  to  similar  subjects  or  requiring  similar 
methods  of  study  or  recitation,  are  grouped  together.  Many 
selections  are  in  dialogue  form  and  suitable  for  dramatization. 
^]  The  First  Reader  may  be  used  with  any  method  of  teach 
ing  reading,  for  it  combines  the  best  ideas  of  each.  A  number 
of  helpful  new  features  are  also  included.  Each  reading  lesson 
is  on  a  right-hand  page,  and  is  approached  by  a  series  of  pre 
paratory  exercises  on  the  preceding  left-hand  page. 
^j  The  illustrations  constitute  the  finest  and  most  attractive 
collection  ever  brought  together  in  a  series  of  readers.  There 
are  over  600  in  all,  every  one  made  especially  for  these  books 
by  an  artist  of  national  reputation. 


AMERICAN     BOOK    COMPANY 

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A    SYSTEM    OF    PEDAGOGY 

By  EMERSON  E.  WHITE,  A.M.,  LL.D. 


Elements  of  Pedagogy $1.00 

School  Management  and  Moral  Training l.oo 

Art  of  Teaching l.oo 


BY  the  safe  path  of  experience  and  in  the  light  of  modern 
psychology    the    ELEMENTS     OF     PEDAGOGY 
points  out  the  limitations  of  the   ordinary  systems   of 
school  education  and  shows  how  their  methods  may  be  har 
monized  and  coordinated.       The  fundamental  principles  of 
teaching  are  expounded  in  a  manner  which  is  both  logical 
and  convincing,  and  such  a  variety  and  wealth  of  pedagogical 
principles  are  presented  as  are  seldom  to  be  found  in  a  single 
text-book. 

•ft  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  discusses  school  govern 
ment  and  moral  training  from  the  standpoint  of  experience, 
observation,  and  study.  Avoiding  dogmatism,  the  author 
carefully  states  the  grounds  of  his  views  and  suggestions,  and 
freely  uses  the  fundamental  facts  of  mental  and  moral  science. 
So  practical  are  the  applications  of  principles,  and  so  apt  are 
the  concrete  illustrations  that  the  book  can  not  fail  to  be  of 
interest  and  profit  to  all  teachers,  whether  experienced  or 
inexperienced. 

^[  In  the  ART  OF  TEACHING  the  fundamental  princi 
ples  are  presented  in  a  clear  and  helpful  manner,  and  after 
wards  applied  in  methods  of  teaching  that  are  generic  and 
comprehensive.  Great  pains  has  been  taken  to  show  the 
true  functions  of  special  methods  and  to  point  out  their  limita 
tions,  with  a  view  to  prevent  teachers  from  accepting  them 
as  general  methods  and  making  them  hobbies.  The  book 
throws  a  clear  light,  not  only  on  fundamental  methods  and 
processes,  but  also  on  oral  illustrations,  book  study,  class 
instruction  and  management,  written  examinations  and  pro 
motions  of  pupils,  and  other  problems  of  great  importance. 


AMERICAN     BOOK     COMPANY 


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